


Angel Care

by orphan_account



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 08:33:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1772599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sehun puts the fun back in "funeral"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It's a Bitch Convincing People to Like You

"Well speak of the devil." Sehun murmured as a deep _bwong_ sound reverberated around the embalming lab. Years ago he had rigged the lever at the cemetery gate to trigger a gong in the lab. He didn't look up from the cadaver.

The gong sounded again, to which Sehun raised an eyebrow but went on in his routine, forcing his hand to place the lens cap on the cadaver's eye. The body was fresh but severely damaged, ordinarily fresh bodies only needed a tiny shot of embalming fluid in the eyeball for it to retain shape.

"How the fuck do you even get hit by a semi around here?" Sehun groused and the girl in white looked up. She had moved from the sink counter to huddling by the door.

"Well I kind of took the driver by surprise you know? Jumping off the overpass, he couldn't exactly see me coming." She watched as Sehun lifted the cadaver's leg by the thigh to ready the vaginal plug. "O-oh my. That's certainly more than what my fiancé did."

Before Sehun could make a comment on how the vaginal and anal plugs were strictly for business i.e. preventing spillage the shouting from outside carried into the lab.

" _Your_ worthless son went back on the agreement! It's his fault our daughter died!"

"You never sent us the dowry! Clearly he saw something he didn't like and with in-laws like you I can hardly blame him! As I see it we're being generous, we don't pay a penny for the funeral and you use the dowry to cover the costs."

Sehun's hand faltered in readying the plug. The shouting match outside had been going on for a while now, concentrating on the corpse was getting difficult.

He set down the plug with a clang on the table and moved to the door.

“Keep silent. Respect the dead.”

In certain situations Sehun was quite good at inflating his age, such as now. With the drab brown suit, gloved hands caked in fluids, and haunted eyes glaring over his breathing mask the families shut up immediately.

“You’ll have to excuse him.” The preacher said nervously. A short wide-eyed man known to the town as Father Do who handled the funeral procession and the families while Sehun dealt with embalming and burials. Most people didn’t want to speak with someone who worked directly with the dead.

At the implication that Sehun was in the right the mother of the deceased readied a retort.

Suddenly a knock came at the door followed by a meek, “Um! Excuse me! Hello?”

Everyone turned to see a mousey boy with wild bubblegum pink hair standing at the entrance to the funeral home. “Sorry to bother you!”

A huge bouquet of bird of paradise flowers rested in the boy’s arms and he held them up. “I rang the bell at the gate but no one answered. I was worried about the flowers since they need to be placed in a vase soon.”

Father Do was the first to recover, walking toward the boy with a gracious smile. “Thank you.” He patted the boy’s head despite the pink-haired boy being taller. “You must be new around here, what’s your name?”

In the meantime Sehun wandered back into the lab. Bodies to embalm, bodies to bury. On paper he had only been in the business for six years, in actuality it was more like several hundred. When his parents were alive they needed all the extra help they could get being the only death industry workers in town. Some of Sehun’s earliest memories were those of digging graves and doing makeup on corpses.

*

“Back home late again.”

“Piss off.” Sehun grumbled, shutting the door behind him.

On the evening of the same day Sehun came home at near midnight to his father in a rare talkative mood. Sehun flopped down onto the freezing futon. Cold plagued Sehun all year round but in the winter the cold hard floor of his dwelling seemed to freeze his futon that much more. There was a radiator but it hardly helped.

“Stop going to the whorehouse Sehun, your presence clearly makes them uncomfortable.”

Sehun bundled himself deeper in the duvet, ghosts were not real, and they certainly didn’t have the right to tell him what he could and couldn’t do. Besides, if Sehun made the prostitutes uncomfortable they were clearly capable of expressing it and turning him away based on such feelings. Such as when he had visited a few hours ago.

_“Go away.” The man at the desk didn’t look up, didn’t need to. Not when he was one of the few who could say that he has watched Sehun grow up._

_“120,000 won.” Sehun deadpanned. It was rare for him to ever be completely rejected, most of the time he just had to pay more than everyone else._

_“One of the girls saw the hospital truck drop something off at the funeral home. No one wants to work with someone who touched a dead body today.”_

On the way home Sehun had considered watching some porn before bed but the oppressive cold sapped his energy away the moment he stepped into his dwelling at the end corner of the cemetery. Home was a poorly insulated tiny wooden shack just the basics, a single cell with a bathroom attached.

“I was watching you today Sehun.”

Ah yes his father was still here. 

“You could fit more bodies if you stopped digging the graves so wide.”

Sehun didn’t run the graveyard like his father used to, he didn’t care. This life wasn’t his choice.

But oh well.

Bodies to embalm. Bodies to bury.

*

“Mister embalmer?”

Most rural cemeteries didn’t do burials in the winter, the ground tended to freeze making it all too much of a hassle. For whatever reason the ground in the Oh family cemetery didn’t.

Sehun paused his digging. “Father Do just left. He’s best contacted at the church nearer to town.”

“Oh it’s not that! Um…”

Sighing Sehun turned around, leaning on the shovel. It was the pink-haired boy from the day before, bundled up in a huge jumper with a muffler wrapped around his face. Today he held a bouquet of white chrysanthemums.

“Everyone leaves their deliveries by the gates.” Sehun squeezed the handle of the shovel, nothing. His hands always felt numb this time of year, clad in a black polo neck and his usual brown suit he was arguably underdressed. Even if he dressed warmer it would hardly make a difference though.

“I didn’t want to leave the flowers on the ground, they don’t do well in the cold.” The pink-haired boy walked closer, a fuzzy red flush dusting his cheeks from the cold. “A-also I didn’t get your-”

The boy abruptly shrieked as his foot buckled to the side, pitching off balance.

Sehun wasn’t impressed. Calmly extending one arm from the shovel he caught the boy’s middle and watched the bouquet scatter in the empty grave with mild interest. 

“Sorry!” The boy squeaked out. Sehun felt an incredible warmth around his arm, weirdly enough the boy was still clinging.

“Ohhhh they’ll die soon if I don’t get them back! Is it okay if I go down there Mr… um…”

“Were you wearing shoelifts?”

The boy let go of his arm, eyes huge. “Pardon?”

“Don’t wear shoe-lifts or high heels in a cemetery.” Sehun then glanced toward the flowers. The grave was fairly deep, flowers and their petals had scattered all over the plot and to Sehun they looked beyond saving.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ll place another order. Next time leave deliveries at the gate.”

“No!” The boy cried out, wringing the hem of his jumper. “It was my fault for being clumsy! You shouldn’t have to pay extra mister… ah… Sir!” The boy blurted out after Sehun didn’t offer an answer. As he saw it the flower boy would primarily be dealing with Father Do, though he wasn’t sure about that. The past flower delivery people never dealt with them at all.

“Don’t worry about it.” Sehun said. Getting angry at others used to make him feel warm inside but watching this kid was exhausting with all the bowing and apologies.

They finally agreed on going halfsies on the replacement bouquet and Sehun watched the boy with pink hair run off and skip the gate with ease. Maybe he really was an anime.

Sehun’s arm still tingled with warmth where the boy had held on. With a shrug he finished the burials of the day. He still had to beat his game, or beat it off. One of the two, maybe both. 

Lots of stress, lots of boredom. 

*

“I thought I told you to leave deliveries by the gate. Also I’m working, the door shouldn’t be open for long. Either you come in to talk and put on a mask or leave.”

To Sehun’s surprise the flower boy walked in shutting the door behind him. “Sorry to trouble you sir. I was planning on leaving them by the door but with all the snow on the ground outside…” He faltered, Sehun grinned under his mask at seeing the boy’s gaze caught on the arm dangling from the table.

The boy shook his head. “It’s not good for them. Also by any chance do you have anything I can put these in?”

Looking around Sehun found a few dusty old jars in the corner, one would be enough to hold the flowers. “There,” he gestured at them. “I’d get them but…” He held up his hands, caked red and grey from embalming fluid and blood.

The embalming lab was Sehun’s place, had been for many years. It wasn’t as irritating having someone else in the lab as he thought it would be. A little bit of background noise wasn’t so bad, the bustling of another was oddly calming. Father Do visited regularly with the shopping and while Sehun certainly got that he cared Father Do never lingered.

“How long does it take?”

“Depends on how “complicated” it is. Usually a few hours at least.” Sehun could hear the boy filling up the jar in the sink.

“You’re the only one?”

“No one else wants the job. My family’s taken care of the dead for centuries now anyway.” Sehun ripped off the gloves. Walking over to the cabinet on the other side of the room Sehun saw the boy huddled up against the door next to the jar of flowers. “Do you need me to let you out?”

“Oh sorry sir I was just watching.” The boy held his jacket closer. “Is that okay? Sorry it’s kind of weird… I…”

“It’s fine, you can come closer if you want.” Sehun bent down to retrieve the cosmetics box. “You’re cold?” He asked upon seeing that the boy didn’t move, shouldn’t be that surprising he guessed. The lab was pretty much a fridge anyway.

The boy shook his head, already quite bundled up to the point where he resembled a little marshmallow. However another shiver wracked the boy’s small frame and Sehun walked over.

“You can borrow this.” He took off his brown blazer, usually such an action coming from him was frowned upon. Though as Sehun saw it, this kid was already willingly spending time in the embalming lab with him. Wearing the jacket of a grave digger probably wouldn’t bother him.

Accepting the jacket the boy looked at the box Sehun was holding. “You do makeup on them too?”

“Just a bit.”

Now when Sehun walked back to the table the boy accompanied him, standing a bit behind to watch him work. 

The fans in the lab were incredibly strong. They had to be in order to keep the air mostly breathable, filtering out noxious fumes from the formaldehyde and really bad cadavers but some smells never left. Throughout the whole complex the scent of flowers tended to linger, it was especially potent in the lab along with the smell of embalming fluid. Sehun found the scent of both repulsive. Flower boy smelled like flowers as well which was reasonable, along with something else.

“You smell like a food.” Sehun said flatly, dabbing a bit of lipstick on the cadaver.

“Oh I had a sweet potato.” The boy said dreamily before adopting a worried tone, “is that bad? Am I contaminated?” 

“No it’s fine, this isn’t a hospital.” Sehun moved onto the cheeks, “was it tasty?”

“Really tasty!” Flower boy chirped, “in the winter they roast them and they’re really warm and comforting.” 

Sehun didn’t reply, he really didn’t want to mess up on doing the final touches.

He didn’t remember how much time had passed, five minutes, ten. Out of nowhere flower boy was next to him looking at the body.

“He looks like he’s sleeping.” There was a tinge of awe in the boy’s voice and it made the warmth bloom in Sehun’s chest. Compliments were rare.

“Is it difficult being the only one sir?”

Sehun whirled around, truly facing flower boy for the first time. “Just call me Sehun, the sir is weird.”

The boy gasped, eyes widening he looked even younger and for the first time that day Sehun had doubts about letting a kid into the embalming lab. “I don’t have anything else to compare with. I’ve been the only one doing this all my life.”

All the curiosity was puzzling. Usually people just made up all kinds of fantastical ideas of what the grave digger did, he had heard a few before. Strange stories like hanging bodies on hooks like meat. This boy clearly stood out as an outsider.

“Was there something else?” 

The boy looked down, twiddling his thumbs, “I have to leave now.”

“Oh give me a moment, I’ll open the gate so you don’t need jump over it in the dark.”

At the gate flower boy returned his blazer, some minutes passed in silence until Sehun finally came up with something that sounded appropriate.

“Bring me a roast sweet potato tomorrow.”

The boy’s face lit up. “Will do! Bye Sehun!”

As the boy scampered off Sehun walked back to the lab. He still had one more body to prepare and he needed to work out what to have for dinner.

He decided on ribs.

*

“Ah sorry to intrude. Perchance is there a Sehun here?”

Just as advertised flower boy was at Sehun’s door once again, though it seemed with a case of oddly specific amnesia.

Sehun held his arms out as if presenting something great. “There’s a Sehun right here.”

“What!?” Flower boy screeched, nearly dropping the two foil-wrapped bundles in his arms. “You…”

Sehun raised an eyebrow. Strangely enough this was nearly the most natural he had ever seen flower boy.

“I thought you were your younger brother or son or something.” Flower boy stammered, he looked down yet the glow of his blush could still be seen above his blue muffler. “The suit adds a lot.”

Sehun looked down. Thick wooly socks, white boxers and a black pollo neck. Surely there wasn’t that much of a difference that flower boy thought it was possible he had a son? Absurd.

“Whatever. Come in.”

Sehun turned on his heel and walked into the shack. There wasn’t much, he lived with just the basics, a high-end porn machine and a SNES. Sometimes there was a gameboy for when he wanted to save the world on the go.

“I was in the middle of something.” Sehun plucked a bundle out of flower boy’s arms then flopped down onto the futon with his gameboy. Today he wasn’t on the go, just one of those days where he felt like playing something different.

Sehun felt the warmth before flower boy spoke.

“Oh I played this a lot when I was younger! You’re close to the end now.” He poked Sehun’s arm, “eat first, it’s no good cold.”

Sehun put the console down. Devoting himself to the aluminium-wrapped bundle he observed how his guest handled it. Peeling off the foil in strips, then peeling the skin and going for the allegedly tasty centre.

After ages of hard work peeling Sehun took his first bite. As flower boy said, it was delicious, with the cold weather contributing to the experience.

"It's good huh?"

Sehun nodded, "what else do they have in town?" He didn't really go out, nothing beyond the convenience store and "bath house" anyway. Though given how he was received at those locations it was probably for the better.

"Actually there's a festival happening in town tomorrow." Flower boy murmured pensively.

Sehun balled up the leftover foil and peel then threw it in the bin across the small room. Picking up the gameboy he thought about it. On one end he wanted to go. Many many years ago when he wasn't the sole force responsible for all the dead in the vicinity he had to visit the town to run errands and his memory of the place was slightly blurry. Then on the other end flower boy was already an anomaly by being an outsider, hanging around him would probably taint flower boy to the locals. Even back in the day dealing with people had made outings unpleasant. What puzzled Sehun was how they even knew.

"Say... Why did you come here anyway?" Sehun blinked then remembered the gameboy. He pressed start, the title screen music had been looping for ages.

Flower boy leaned in closer to look at the screen. "I'm doing university here."

Sehun dropped the gameboy. _"What_. I thought you couldn't have been more than high school age!"

Flower boy broke into a fit of laughter that seemed to possess his whole body. Shutting his eyes tight with his mouth wide open. Sehun frowned, he didn't think it was that funny. Flower boy seemed to be fighting for breath now and Sehun awkwardly massaged the boy's sternum.

Maybe it helped, soon after the boy recovered.

"Sorry." He gasped out, "it's just that I'm one of the older students in most of my classes too. I'm twenty-three."

"Anyway," flower boy handed the gameboy back to Sehun. "You're really close to the end now, you should have finished a long time ago."

Sehun's frown deepened. "This boss is really awful. There's a lot going on it's a headache."

"Hmmm... You go through it first and I'll watch."

With a few more tries under flower boy's coaching Sehun found himself at the ending sequence. They watched it together in comfortable silence, then came the questions.

"Hey Sehun? Have you ever embalmed someone close?"

"My parents." Sehun deadpanned.

"It's really just you here then."

Sehun didn't hear any pity really. There was something familiar in flower boy's voice but he couldn't place it. "Pretty much. Father said I have a half-uncle here somewhere though."

"Same." Flower boy said quietly, "no parents and an estranged uncle." He elaborated when Sehun cocked his head.

"Complicated family?"

"That or the opposite."

Sehun knew that feeling.

"Oh no." Flower boy gasped looking down at his phone, "it's past curfew at the dorm I better get back."

"Wait, if it's past curfew what do you do if you go back?" Sehun nervously looked out the one window of the shack. It was a moonless night out and surely public transport wasn't running at this hour.

The boy shrugged. "Library's open all the time, probably hang out there until the dorm opens."

For the first time Sehun thought that his simple home might not be enough. Either way tact wasn't his forte and he had a bad feeling about flower boy wandering around in the dead of night.

"Stay the night here. There's a convenience store nearby open all night if you need something and the futon's definitely large enough for the both of us."

Flower boy looked down and wrung the hem of his jumper.

Sehun rolled his eyes. "You're not walking back to the school at this hour."

It didn't take much to make flower boy cave in though frankly Sehun found any counterarguments ridiculous. He thought back to what the boy mentioned earlier.

"Are you going to the festival tomorrow?"

"Yeah," then, "do you want to go with me?" He added, feeling bolder than before.

Sehun decided to take the chance. "Sure," he held out his phone, "let's exchange numbers."

Flower boy gave a contented little hum then handed his phone over.

"Lu Han?"

"Yeah." Said boy grinned, "took you long enough."

Sehun's cheeks heated up, it really didn't occur to him to ask.

"It's okay." Lu Han patted Sehun's head and at that moment Sehun learned never to subject anyone to that ever again. Years of his father's spirit ranting at him didn't feel anywhere near as patronising.

Sehun waved his hand. "Tell me about school."

The next hour passed with Lu Han talking about studying world literature at school and Sehun talking about embalming. He supposed Lu Han's interest and apparent non-disgust at his profession was sweet.

Eventually Lu Han expressed a need to sleep, morning classes and whatnot. When Sehun was at the brink of sleep himself he heard a familiar voice.

"Why haven't you made an heir yet?"

Sehun had to hand it to his father's spirit for tenacity. He had been ignoring the grumpy entity for weeks now. It wasn’t fair that his parents had left him responsible for creating an heir. It wasn’t fair that his family had fucked up traditions that seemed counterintuitive to anyone living a happy or healthy life.

Though Sehun supposed that was just the baggage that came with being born into a monstrous cult of death workers.


	2. It's Not Easy Having Yourself a Good Time

_“Lu Han? Are you okay?”_

_Lu Han wasn’t okay, kind of. Bleaching his hair in the backyard was probably a bad idea in retrospect, but his uncle wanted to avoid a mess._

_“I-it’s nothing Uncle Joonmyeon.”_

_Joonmyeon looked to where Lu Han was staring at. “Oh love,” he tutted. “You’re scared of bugs?”_

_Lu Han nodded, still trembling even though the centipede was on the other side of the yard. On the other side of the yard it may be but Lu Han could still see it clearly, he was sure he could hear it skittering on the rocks if he listened hard enough._

_“We’re nearly done anyway. We can move to the bathtub.”_

_It took a few moments, the house was large, seemingly even larger since no one was at home most of the time. They passed by many rooms and corridors, it seemed like forever before reaching the bathtub._

_“Strip to your undies then bend over the side of the tub. I’ll help you wash out the bleach okay?”_

_The voice was kind so Lu Han complied easily. Bending over the side of the tub he closed his eyes to the feeling of warm water flowing over his head while fingers ran through his hair. At a few points Uncle Joonmyeon’s hand wandered further, lightly scratching over his shoulders. Lu Han didn’t think much of it, a comforting gesture if anything._

_“Uncle Joonmyeon?” Lu Han thought of something after his uncle switched off the spray and began towelling his hair._

_“What is it love?”_

_“How come you and Auntie are never home?” Lu Han wondered if at fourteen years old he could still ask blunt questions without people taking offence because he was young and didn’t know better. He hoped so._

_“Oh.” Joonmyeon faltered in his towelling. “It must be lonely. I’m so sorry.” Setting aside the towel he sat cross-legged on the bathroom tile and Lu Han followed suit._

_“We’ve been very busy lately, the company keeps sending us on overseas errands. It should end soon though.” Joonmyeon then smiled a tiny smile, as if it was more for himself. “And I have a project as well.”_

_Lu Han was more interested in this project. “Ooh? What’s the project?”_

_“Mmm let’s just say a special kind of doll.” He tucked a lock of newly blonde hair behind Lu Han’s ear. “This colour’s very nice. It suits you.”_

_“But…” He tutted thoughtfully. “The bleach certainly did a number on your hair. Use the shampoo and conditioner I got you okay?”_

_“Thank you Uncle Joonmyeon.” Lu Han said hesitantly. He hadn’t been living with this family for long but so far they seemed alright. Mostly absent though._

_“Oh your hair’s getting kind of long, shall we cut it?” Joonmyeon asked, tugging on another lock of hair. “We could save it too,” he added cheerfully, “a souvenir of your first hair bleaching!”_

_“Sure…” Lu Han rescinded his previous verdict. Maybe this uncle was a bit keen but his heart was in the right place, probably._

*

For the most part Sehun slept very soundly at night, it may have had something to do with his usual company, he wasn't sure.

That night Sehun learned that not all were as fortunate regarding sleep as he was, namely Lu Han.

When the godawful shrieking first began Sehun thought maybe someone had been delivered to the funeral home by mistake. A few seconds later revealed the source of the screaming to be Lu Han.

"Lu Han?" His eyes were still shut, this was one hell of a nightmare he was having.

The beginnings of dawn filtered in through the only window. Generally Sehun rose with the sun, slightly before in the winter. Though the morning light illuminated the room with a soft glow an oppressive shadow hung over Lu Han. The very space around him warped before Sehun's eyes. Visions of dark rooms and thick red centipedes greeted him.

"C'mon." Sehun jarred Lu Han's shoulder, then deemed the move ineffective given Lu Han's continued slumber. He then opted for pinching Lu Han's ear, to which he woke up with a loud gasp more akin to a death rattle.

Lu Han sat up ramrod straight, eyes wild and panting so that his whole form heaved.

Sehun wasn't sure of the protocol for this kind of situation. He hadn't many experiences in life, certainly not assuaging someone who awoke from a nightmare.

"Do you need anything?" He asked when the sound of Lu Han's panting became too awkward for him.

"Water."

Sehun fetched water accordingly, staring as Lu Han quaffed the whole glass in one go. He wanted to ask questions, though for the life of him Sehun couldn't think up the appropriate wording.

Lu Han flopped back onto the futon. "My parents died in an accident when I was young. The officer handling the whole thing wasn't very good about it."

"Bad enough for screaming fits?" Sehun was curious now.

Lu Han giggled. “Maybe not quite that bad. I was young. It was all very scary.” He looked down at his phone, “oh right on time. The dorm should be open now.” 

Quickly he began dressing himself. “Thank you for letting me stay the night. I’ll call you later okay?” Glancing at Sehun he took note of the raven hair sticking out every which way and bleary eyes.

“You stay here, skipping the gate isn’t difficult and you look like you need rest.” Lu Han grinned sheepishly, “sorry for waking you up.”

Sehun shook his head then waved Lu Han off. He hoped it wasn’t sleeping in the graveyard that had brought about nightmares somehow.

Just then the phone rang, without checking the screen Sehun picked up. Only one person ever called him anyhow.

_“The hospital’s dropping off one job in about an hour. The family’s been notified and they should be coming soon after.”_

Sehun held his hand over his eyes, always something to do. “Anything else?”

_“The family wishes to speak to the embalmer.”_

Now that was very unusual. “Can’t they talk to you?” Sehun whined.

Father Do hadn’t been dealing with the families and funeral processions for very long. Sehun’s parents had been doing it before but generally people liked Father Do more. To be fair Sehun’s parents weren’t really “people” people either. Along with taking on responsibility for the families and funerals Father Do also took on a minor role in taking care of Sehun.

_“Now Sehun-ah that’s not the right answer. I’ll be there just in case, let’s see what they have to say. Alright?”_

“Fine.” 

_“Oh! I’m going to the market today. How are you doing on supplies? Do you need anything?”_

“Ah…” Sehun thought about it. Most of his ingredient stash could still hold for another week but there was a recipe that had become crazy popular on Ilbe recently that Sehun wanted to try. He didn’t frequent the site too often given that it was mostly full of filth but he couldn’t help wandering into the seedy underbelly of the internet when he was bored.

“Chicken breast, yellow onions, and plain panko…”

_“You’re cooking! Do you need any help?”_

“Eh maybe.” Sehun scratched his head, additionally there was the matter of going out with Lu Han today. “I also need a face mask.”

_“Oh are you sick?”_

“No nothing like that, I’m going out with a friend today. I don’t want anyone to give him trouble because he’s with me.”

_“I see. Anything else?”_

“Can you get more paraffin? The last container was great.” Sehun fumbled with his tie. It had been a long time since he had to bother with one. Back in his father’s day the man had insisted that Sehun wear a tie at all times when working. When Sehun had taken over the business he had honoured the tradition until he decided that wearing a polo neck under the suit had pretty much the same effect. If he had to meet the family today though, he had better put more effort into his attire.

 _“Again?”_ Father Do sounded incredulous. _“Ugh goddammit Sehun there’s no reason for a pastor to request paraffin this frequently. People are going to ask questions.”_

“Please? Can’t you just say you use it for lamps? ” Sehun tried hopefully.

_“It’s about a hundred years too late for that we use candles and electricity in the church. What do you need it for anyway? You’re not burning anything important are you?”_

“No of course not. Definitely not anything important.” Sehun shuddered. A week ago he had to collect an overweight man who had been neglected for quite some time. As soon as he had tried to move the body it burst, leaving maggots and goo all over his leg. That had just been a teaser of the delights that were to come, at that point there wasn’t much Sehun could do for the body aside from taking care of the maggot infestation. Drowning them in paraffin had proven very effective, as an added bonus he also could use the paraffin to burn his then tainted suit, which he did. He had watched the maggots die with pleasure.

“Ugh fuck maggots.” Sehun muttered.

_“What!?”_

“Ah nothing.” Sehun said quickly. “Thanks for everything, happy new year Kyungsoo!” He hung up immediately. Hopefully Father Do didn’t hear that.

“Back in my day we killed maggots with our hands and we liked it.”

Oh, _father_. That was Sehun’s cue to start his day.

*

Lu Han blearily rubbed at his eyes, not really trying to focus on the professor’s lecture.

He wasn’t prone to nightmares often, didn’t have any in recent memory. Usually what happened was just that something horrid plagued his mind keeping him from falling asleep in the first place, but once he fell asleep he would be perfectly fine. Lu Han grumbled tiredly, he blamed the graveyard boy, Sehun.

But hey, he didn’t always do things because they made sense, in fact it was possibly even arguable that he based his actions on how little sense they made. Just because he could.

Maybe it had something to do with how his uncle’s family raised him. During that that time Lu Han swore he saw photos more often than actual people, read notes more often than hearing the words from them. He often wondered why he was mostly left to entertain himself, Lu Han’s theory was that maybe they just didn’t like him, but even that didn’t seem too likely. The family was never unkind to him, only absent. Dad never mentioned his family, thinking about it they never visited relatives at all. Be it on Lu Han’s mother’s or father’s side. 

Additionally his dad had taken on his mom’s name in marriage. He probably wasn’t very close to his family.

However if that was the case that wouldn’t explain the large inheritance willed to him that allowed Lu Han to live his carefree lifestyle. The only details Lu Han had received on that were that it came from a member of his dad’s family and that it wasn’t from Uncle Joonmyeon, the relative on his dad’s side that had taken custody of Lu Han after the incident. Incidentally the only relative on his dad’s side that he was familiar with.

Lu Han digressed. Reading World Literature at university probably wasn’t prudent, befriending the grave-digger whom the rest of the town despised probably wasn’t prudent. 

Alas prudent made life boring. Being alone in the world save for hardly present relatives had made Lu Han sick of boring.

Lu Han groaned and rested his chin on his forearms, all he had to look forward to was his outing with Sehun or as he thought of it: project “see how Sehun functions outside of the graveyard”.

Well there was an idea. He fumbled to the ‘contacts’ section of his phone and found his target immediately and composed a text. Not a difficult task given how sparse his contact book was, such was life when he was fresh in the down.

_“Boooooooooored. What are you up to?”_

He kept his phone out on the table for the first few moments after sending the text, disappointed when he didn’t receive a response immediately. To be fair though, he had seen Sehun in action, it wasn’t the kind of environment that was easy for texting.

Some time later, at the point where he had forgotten that he had sent out a text at all Lu Han’s phone vibrated. A new message from Sehun, Lu Han opened it immediately then nearly choked himself trying to suppress his laughter.

Maybe the future wouldn’t be so boring. Sehun certainly didn’t disappoint.

*

“It’s really important to us.”

Sehun wasn’t really sure what to say, he was sure he had received weirder embalming requests though at the moment he couldn’t remember when.

The mother leaned in closer, “We can do the makeup, and provide the clothes. That’s not a problem.”

Father Do looked to Sehun. “We need to discuss this, Mr Oh could you come with me?”

Maybe the light was shining funny but Sehun swore he was getting a wholly exasperated vibe from Father Do as he was led out of the office back to the main area of the funeral home.

“Sehun-ah this is ridiculous. Surely we can’t honour such a request.”

Sehun shrugged. “Sure we can, they just want different attire for the body. They’re not asking for any kind of unreasonable procedure for the actual embalming or burial.”

“Sehun-ah they want him in a living statue outfit.”

Sehun didn’t budge. “If it’s important to them and he doesn’t have anything in his will against it I don’t see why not. Ultimately what the family wants overrules everything else. You’re just bitter that you have to be dressed up as a living statue for the procession as well.”

Father Do closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, this wasn’t in the job description. “Right okay. If it makes the family feel better.” 

“Oh wait a moment, here’s everything you wanted.” Father Do said handing a bag to Sehun. “And also, Sehun?”

“Hmm?”

“Look for a way to kill maggots that involves something less dangerous.”

“Fine.” Sehun grumbled.

It wasn’t long after that. The family was ecstatic at their request being granted, the body only took around three hours to prepare given the good condition it was in, and the family thanked Sehun copiously. Being an embalmer was thankless work, though compliments still made Sehun feel a little something in his cold dead heart. That was how he saw it anyway.

At the moment he was toying around with his spoils while the family toyed around with what kind of living statue style suited Father Do best. While Sehun played around with the face mask his phone vibrated.

_“Boooooooooored. What are you up to?”_

Sehun looked at the text then looked over to Father Do and grinned. Snapping a sneaky picture he texted Lu Han back.

*

“Sehunnie try this!” Lu Han exclaimed, shoving what looked to be a deep fried corn dog with fries on the outside toward him.

“I can’t fit any more food.”

They can’t have been at the festival for long but Sehun already felt exhausted. Somehow the town’s annual seollal festival had completely escaped his notice all these years. Colourful lanterns of all kinds crowded the park in town and the place was swimming with people. Maybe the cold and the excitement was getting to him.

Initially Lu Han made a fuss over his rather skimpy outfit, a thick black jumper and tan corduroy trousers with the face mask, considering the weather. They had only reached a compromise after Sehun agreed to don Lu Han’s bright red muffler and matching mittens, he felt ridiculous.

“Please please? Sehun please?” Lu Han mustered what little aegyo he had into pleading with Sehun. “At least a bite? I’ll finish it if you can’t but it’s so tasty you have to try it!”

Sehun looked down at Lu Han and sighed. “Fine, you win. I can’t take on the whole thing though.” Maybe he did have an issue in saying no to people, unfortunately that meant Lu Han kept pushing.

“Sehunnie please!?” Lu Han shoved a paper bowl full of sliced rice cakes in soup at him.

“Sehunnie you have to try it you have to!” Lu Han pleaded, sticking a huge fish cake on a skewer towards his face.

“I’m going to get food on your muffler if you keep doing this.” Sehun mumbled.

“Wait Sehunnie the countdown to the midnight fireworks show is starting!” Lu Han shouted, yanking Sehun closer to the crowd that had already gathered.

_Ten!_

Sehun looked towards Lu Han. “Hey you look a bit pink, are you cold?” Unwinding the muffler and taking off the gloves, “take these back. I’ll be fine.”

_Nine!_

Lu Han reached for Sehun’s bare hand. “You’re a furnace! How!? There’s a lot of contrast between your temperature and outside.” 

_Eight!_

Lu Han frowned, “you must be cold. Keep the mittens and muffler on for now, it’s okay if you get food on them.”

_Seven!_

“One glove each then.” Sehun argued.

_Six!_

“Fine one glove each. Keep the muffler.”

_Five!_

“But we’ll hold hands though! You don’t get to hog the warmth!” Lu Han added quickly.

_Four!_

Sehun took note of Lu Han’s pink nose and ears.

_Three!_

“Put this on.” Right after saying it Sehun went ahead and put the face mask on Lu Han anyway. Gently working the straps over Lu Han’s ears.

_Two!_

“Ewwww this was all against your face.” Lu Han whined playfully.

Lu Han never got the chance to shout “one!” along with the rest of the crowd. They all went on without him, finishing off the countdown and screaming as the fireworks came out, but Lu Han stayed there mouth agape at the warm pressure against his cheek.

It stayed for a while, long enough for Lu Han to think about it and understand that it definitely wasn’t a figment of his lonely imagination. Right after it left Lu Han was brought back to reality by the face mask being snapped against his face. Immediately he whirled around to face Sehun, who looked nonchalant as ever.

“The fireworks are nice.” Lu Han thought he could see the corner of Sehun’s lip twitch.

“You! What was that for!? That hurt!” Lu Han fussed, rubbing his cheeks where the mask had snapped against.

Sehun shrugged. “I heard you have to kiss someone on new year to make your year not shit. Figured I’d give it a shot.”

Lu Han didn’t know how Sehun kept a straight face through that explanation, he was near tears himself from laughter. Raising himself to the tops of his tippy toes he tugged down the muffler and planted his lips firmly against Sehun’s. It really wasn’t fair how warm Sehun was against him and how he still complained about being cold. He kept his lips on Sehun’s for a comparable amount of time as their last kiss.

“I heard it has to be on the lips to count.” Lu Han explained.

Sehun looked around, nobody would see them probably. The whole crowd was focused on the fireworks so he bent down, holding his face near Lu Han’s. “Then let me redo mine.”

“Ah!” 

Right before Sehun could press his lips against Lu Han’s the crowd around them shifted, jolting Lu Han.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” A man stopped to help Lu Han pick up his belongings. “You’re not hurt are you?”

“Nah I’m fine.” The smile felt a bit tight on Lu Han’s face.

“I’m happy to hear that. Say, you don’t look familiar. Are you new? Let me guess you go to the university right?” The man peered down curiously at Lu Han’s face, most of his features were obscured by a large red muffler.

“Y-yeah I’m a university student.” Lu Han was certain this man could sense how much he wanted him to leave, and that was why he lingered.

“They call me Doctor Kim around these parts, what’s your name?”

“Lu Han.” He said quietly. Lu Han was sure this guy meant no harm but this was getting a bit awkward.

“Nice to meet you.” The man beamed, “hopefully we won’t be seeing each other. Well, at least not in my office.” The man laughed at his own joke, “Well I’ll be moving along now. Happy new year Lu Han.”

Before Lu Han could offer an insincere “happy new year to you too” the man left. 

“You’re shy around strangers.” Sehun appeared seemingly out of thin air to hold Lu Han’s hand.

Lu Han contemplated offering a smart-aleck response but then he remembered something important. “Sehun? It’s past curfew again…”

Sehun’s eyes widened. “Your dorm didn’t even extend curfew on new year’s eve? Christ.” He crossed his arms behind his head. “Yeah if you don’t mind I don’t care if you spend the night at mine again. It’s not my place giving you nightmares is it?”

Lu Han clasped his hands together. “No screaming tonight. Promise.”

The graveyard was a lengthy trek away. Though the buses were running free tonight in the interest of minimising destruction via rowdy drunks Sehun and Lu Han opted to mosey on back to Sehun’s dwelling. A feat which took nearly an hour and by the time they reached the graveyard Lu Han was ready to pass out onto Sehun’s futon.

Suddenly a loud klaxon blared through the air and Lu Han shrieked in response. Just a second later the sound stopped leaving his head ringing. 

“Hello?” 

Lu Han dimly heard Sehun talking over his pounding headache. He contemplated strangling Sehun.

“Oh shit. Yeah I’m in I’ll be there in a few minutes. Text me the details.” 

Sehun’s phone pinged and he looked down. “Got a new arrival I need to take care of. Do you need anything?”

That chased away all the lingering resentment on Lu Han’s mind. “No I’m fine. Do you need help in the lab?” Lu Han wasn’t sure if he was capable of helping but he would try at least. The thought of Sehun alone with a cadaver on new year was too sad.

“Eh, sure. Keep me company.” Sehun shrugged. His phone pinged again, checking it his jaw dropped. “Oh fuck. No, no don’t come along.”

Lu Han tilted his head.

“Trust me you don’t want to see this. It’ll be gross.” Sehun swallowed thickly, “ _I_ don’t want you to see this.”

“Oh…” Lu Han slumped back onto the futon. “Well in that case the heat’s a bit high, is it okay if I turn it down?”

“Yeah no problem.” Sehun winced, “I probably won’t be back for a while. Happy new year Lu Han. Don’t have nightmares tonight.”

Lu Han smiled. “Happy new year to you too Sehun.”


	3. Smells Like Something I've Forgotten

_“Kid we’ve been at this for a long long time now. We want to help, we can’t do that unless you help us though.”_

_Lu Han kept his head down and held his hands over his eyes. By now he had lost track of how long he’d been in this dark room in the police station. Though he was ready to accept that somehow he had ended up in some terrible alternate dimension of nothingness. He couldn’t even see his hands in front of his face, it was so easy to pretend that whoever was speaking didn’t exist._

_“The faster you help us the faster we can do our job.” Lu Han heard footsteps coming closer. “The faster I can let you out of this room.”_

_Lu Han kept mum. What could he say if he didn’t know anything?_

_“Still no? That’s too bad.”_

_The past few times the officer would come in, say his piece, Lu Han would ignore him, and then the officer left. Usually it was all very quick, but this time instead of footsteps there was a faint scratchy skittering sound. The frantic scratching was the only sound in the room, it sounded like it was scraping against leather. Lu Han could smell leather at least._

_“You know we have methods of finding liars. Not machines or anything, those don’t work on kids.”_

_Lu Han tried not to sigh in relief, though it seemed the officer caught it anyway._

_“But, what we do have is something far more effective that works on everyone.”_

_A loud metallic clang and light flooded the room, blinding Lu Han. Loud tick-tocking marked the seconds and finally he opened his eyes to try getting a grasp on just what the hell was going on. Between the cacophony overhead and trying to adjust to the bright light after several hours of darkness Lu Han was well addled. Even then he caught a glimpse of some creature writhing in the cop’s hands. Long, red, and working a million spindly legs._

_Another clang and the lights went off. Lu Han wasn’t aware he had adjusted to the dark any before but now the darkness seemed far more oppressive, possibly due to the “visitor”._

_“This guy,” the policeman began, “is a Chinese red-headed centipede.”_

_Lu Han had absolutely no idea what was happening. The policeman was right in front of him but under the cover of darkness he didn’t know if the thing was here or there or maybe way over there. To his horror the answer to that came a short while after._

_There was a change in the skittering and it took Lu Han a few moments to realise that the policeman was now holding the thing against his leg, and that it was scratching against his jeans. Lu Han didn’t know why he didn’t lose it right then._

_“They can get pretty big too. This guy’s around twenty centimeters long, and he plays a valuable role for the department.”_

_The skittering against his jeans stopped but then Lu Han felt something long and thin twitch against his neck. He wasn’t bound, he thought about it. He could punch this officer in the face, tear the thing apart._

_“Sometimes we use him to sort out liars.”_

_It was the thing’s antennae against his neck. It trailed up Lu Han’s neck, slowly up his cheek, then stopped at his ear. What he felt couldn’t be put into words, the violent shivering and tingling. His skin felt like it was crawling with every hair standing on end, flesh alive with goosebumps. The sound of the skittering changed again, this time, it was the thing’s legs against the skin of his cheek._

_Thinking about it, Lu Han really didn’t want to get into a physical altercation with this guy._

_“We stick him in right here,” Lu Han felt the thing’s head butting against his ear, “and he sorts everything out.”_

_The officer moved the centipede closer and Lu Han had it. Earlier his plan was to not give the officer the satisfaction of him reacting, to hell with that plan._

_With a speed and strength he didn’t know he possessed, Lu Han’s hand shot out to grab the officer’s wrist and yank the hand with the thing away from his head. There was no Plan B, Lu Han didn’t plan for what came after pissing the officer off. There was no plan._

_Suddenly the door opened with a loud metallic wrenching sound and Lu Han slumped over onto the floor. He was done, at this point whatever happened, happened._

_“Hey kid, your uncle finally made it here, you’re free to go.” Out of the corner of his eye Lu Han saw the man at the door turn to the officer, “Oh here’s where you’ve been. Boss wants to see you.”_

_As the cops walked off Lu Han caught some strains of their conversation._

_“Hey the kid looks really bad, did you do something or is he just upset about his parents?”_

_“Ah just messed with him a bit. He’s cute when he cries.”_

*

Sehun didn't make it back home until around seven in the morning. Last night's job had been tedious, worse than the body he had to use up all the paraffin on. Father Do was going to be pissed, Sehun was running low again after last night. Technically insect repellant would work but it was expensive. Not that money was anywhere near a problem for Sehun but Father Do wouldn't allow Sehun to give him money for shopping trips. Beside that Sehun liked drowning maggots in paraffin.

Anyhow, he was exhausted. Stepping out of the shower he threw on a random bunch of clothes then crawled into the futon next to Lu Han. It had been a long day full of excitement and new experiences, Sehun fell asleep immediately.

However slumber didn't last long for Oh Sehun.

"Nnn!"

Sehun was jolted to consciousness by being yanked against Lu Han’s chest.

The first thing Sehun noted was that it was freezing. Probably due to turning the radiator off, which he would remedy immediately. The second thing was that he was clinging onto Lu Han, who was really warm. Apparently he gravitated toward sources of warmth in his sleep, good to know.

“I hate them.”

Lu Han’s chest rumbled gently as he spoke in monotone, “I hate them so much.”

Sehun went slack in Lu Han’s death grip, looking around them to see how the space around Lu Han distorted. As if the whole area was underwater. “What do you hate?” He murmured, it didn’t look like he would be going back to sleep.

A long pause, long after he thought Lu Han was done sleep talking Sehun heard the same quiet monotone utter, “the policeman.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

This time the response came slightly faster. “He’s a jerk.” The corners of Lu Han’s small mouth curved down in a little grimace and Sehun had to keep from laughing.

“What did he do?”

Lu Han made no move to respond however the distortion didn’t cease, Sehun assumed the dream was still occurring. Huddling in closer to Lu Han, Sehun craned his neck to repeat his question next to Lu Han’s ear.

Except as soon as Sehun spoke Lu Han's hand came up to smack his face. Evidently talking wasn't all that Lu Han did whilst asleep.

While Sehun nursed his cheek Lu Han woke up, yawning sleepily and squinting down at Sehun. "Did I do something odd in my sleep again?"

Sehun shook his head. "Your dreams are interesting. Who's the policeman? You said he was a jerk while you were sleeping."

"Oh did I?" Lu Han laughed, scratching the back of his head. "As I said before the officer in charge of my parents' case was super mean and I was young."

That wasn't an answer. "What did he do?" Sehun repeated.

Another giggle. "Oh just dumb stuff. He threatened to drop a bug down my shirt if I didn't tell the truth. I didn't know anything but I was scared he'd really drop the bug down my shirt if I said that."

Lu Han let out a sigh. "I overheard him later telling his friend that he thought being mean to me was funny."

"It is funny."

Lu Han gently smacked the back of Sehun's head. "I have to go to the flower shop and do deliveries but I don't want to move."

"You're only in charge of the flower wheels for funerals aren't you? Doesn't that pretty much mean you're coming right back here?" Sehun pushed himself off of Lu Han to switch on the radiator, making sure to exert as much pressure as possible on the flower boy. He tried and failed to keep from grinning when Lu Han let out a little squeak.

"Well there's you but I also do the arrangements for the church. You wouldn't believe how many flowers Mr Do orders."

“He’s a busy man.” Sehun changed into his “work” attire, except the only garments he owned were corduroy slacks in various shades of tan with matching blazers, black polo necks, and undergarments that qualified for pyjamas. “And so are you,” he yanked the duvet off of Lu Han. “Get going, I’ll still be here. I’m always here.”

“I’m moving, I’m moving.” Lu Han grumbled.

*

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with the keeper of the graveyard.”

Lu Han would have rolled his eyes if it wasn’t his boss, he was hoping Minseok was beyond whatever prejudice everyone else apparently had against Sehun. “Yeah…” He couldn’t really think of what else to say, not like he could devote much brain effort to it anyway. A request came from the funeral home for a rather elaborate flower arrangement that was proving tedious to make.

Minseok settled down beside him. “You’ve heard about him haven’t you?”

“That he sacrifices bodies for powers? Yeah I’ve heard that rumour.”

“It’s not entirely a rumour.” Minseok moved Lu Han’s flower pile closer to himself when Lu Han dropped everything at the statement. “Well I don’t know about the body sacrifice part. But you know there’s something up with that whole family.”

Lu Han didn’t say anything but he was pretty sure the “Are you fucking kidding me?” was written all over his face.

“Hey now,” Minseok laughed. “What’s that face for?”

“I would have thought the sacrifices to be the true part.” Lu Han frowned, “Why is he so unpopular anyway? I lived in Seoul for a while and I didn’t notice any real stigma against death workers so why here?”

“Hmm it’s not exactly just that.” This time Minseok stopped while Lu Han continued arranging. “His family’s always been here, they used to do a lot more than just tending to the bodies and the graveyard. Executions and… other things.”

“Other things?”

Minseok winced. “This is all stuff my grandpa told me. Frankly I find it hard to believe but… I guess it would explain why the Ohs are unpopular around here.” He sat back, “Apparently the males of the Oh family carry some kind of power spiritually that they profited off of. Hypnosis, channeling, spooky shit like that.”

“Is that all?” Honestly, Lu Han was kind of disappointed if that was it.

Minseok’s frown deepened. “Grandpa told me they have to…” He swallowed, “They do something really terrible, all of them. Which is why they have powers.”

“You know what they do don’t you?” Lu Han inserted the last flower into the frame.

“He told me. And the whole town knows too which is why they avoid the Oh family.” Lu Han opened his mouth but Minseok interrupted him. “But it’s something… I think you should ask him yourself. It’s not something I want to go around telling everyone, especially if it isn’t true.”

He stood up. “It’s probably better if you don’t know.” Grabbing a nearby bouquet, he gave Lu Han a friendly whack at the back of the head. “Anyway, get going before this thing wilts.”

Lu Han stuck his tongue out while Minseok helped him load the bike.

“Stay safe okay? Sometimes the roads are slippery in the winter.”

With that Lu Han was off.

Deliveries didn’t take too long. He didn’t have so many wreaths today and Mr Do wasn’t in the church. Next thing he knew Lu Han was already preparing to bike to the cemetery.

Maybe because Mr Do wasn’t at the church so there was no small talk, maybe because he had pedaled a bit harder so he could see Sehun again.

Whipping past a street full of snack stands Lu Han skidded to a stop. Today’s shift was scheduled right in the middle of his lunch time and Sehun was the last delivery of the day. Hopefully he could snag something and eat it at the graveyard.

The egg toast stand seemed particularly appealing today.

He sent a text to Sehun while thinking over what toppings he wanted. _“Hey what do you want for lunch?”_

_“Anything’s fine. Working, can’t eat now.”_

Lu Han pouted then made his order, no egg toast for Sehun in that case. Egg toast was the tastiest when the yolk in the middle was still a bit runny.

The street was full of children as school had just finished, if Lu Han recalled correctly there was a school nearby. As he waded through the crowd he pondered what would be a good snack for later. Something whose flavour wouldn’t be too diminished by sitting for an hour or so…

Looking at the chicken cup stand gave Lu Han some ideas.

*

Kyungsoo was in the middle of consulting a family when suddenly a large blur with a pink tuft at the top whipped past him. He thought he caught a frantic “Hello!” but at this rate he really wasn’t sure what that was. It all happened so fast.

The blur quickly let itself into the embalming lab and Kyungsoo focused his attention back on the family.

“He works here.” Kyungsoo said flatly, “Now about the arrangements for the procession…”

Lu Han slumped on the ground after shutting the door. A few seconds later Sehun threw a breathing mask at him.

Grumbling, Lu Han pawed for the mask as it had landed just at the edge of his range. “What was that for?”

“It’s faster to throw it.” Sehun said brusquely, taking out the makeup bag.

Lu Han caught sight of a nail polish bottle set out on the table. “You have to paint the nails too?”

“Sometimes. This time the family requested it.”

Deeming himself rested enough Lu Han walked over next to Sehun. “Would it be okay if I did the nail polish?”

Sehun froze, makeup bag dropping from his hand and Lu Han wondered if his offer had been offensive somehow. Just when he was about to rescind the invitation Sehun responded.

“Let me get you some gloves. You’re not allergic to latex or anything right?”

Lu Han shook his head and soon enough Sehun came back touting an extra pair of gloves. Perhaps it was his imagination but Lu Han swore he could feel Sehun’s intense gaze on him the whole time as he donned the gloves. When he retrieved the bottle of nail polish Sehun quickly held his hand out as if to halt him but all that came out was a quiet “Be careful.”

Lu Han nodded, unscrewing the bottle and picking up a hand to get started. “You do your thing.” He said to Sehun in the most reassuring voice he could muster. “I’ll be careful I promise.”

Hesitantly, Sehun got to work dusting the cadaver’s face with a lifelike blush. He couldn’t help his eyes nervously darting to Lu Han then back to his own work, finally he settled himself by reasoning that it was only nail polish. There was only so much damage Lu Han could do painting nails, or so he hoped.

“Sehun?”

“Hm?”

“Have you ever done children?”

“Yeah.” Sehun continued dusting, he was pretty sure he pumped in enough embalming fluid but the old lady’s face still felt a tiny bit waxy. The makeup wasn’t adhering so well.

“Babies?”

“Yeah.” Giving up on the blush Sehun chose a light shade of lipstick. He tended to go light on the makeup application with the elderly.

“Is it difficult?”

“A bit. The bodies are smaller and I’ve done a lot more adults so I’m not really familiar with the measurements and-”

“No no.” Lu Han waved his hand. “I meant like… Umm..”

Sehun got the idea. “Oh… In that way no.” He shrugged, “You learn to detach. Exercise the stress and grief out in other ways.” He didn’t think about the nights of crying after embalming his his first stillborn. He didn’t think about how he had thrown himself at everything trying to take his mind off the fact that an unfair God had placed a baby in his hands to preserve. That it didn’t get to just live its life instead. Back all of his free time was spent either at the brothel or playing violent video games, he was only fifteen.

Sehun never quite felt the same after that embalming.

Lu Han remained quiet until he finished the nail painting. Honestly, Sehun was surprised that he hadn’t left yet. Surely Lu Han must have found his emotional absence unappealing.

“What would you do if you had to embalm me?” Lu Han asked in a cheerier tone. As if he wasn’t asking about his own potential death arrangements.

“Well.” Sehun had just finished the makeup and was returning everything to the cosmetics bag when Lu Han posed the question. His hand stilled, carrying the makeup he walked over to stand in front of Lu Han. “Usually it’s up to the family but seeing as you’re still here what would you want me to do Lu Han?”

Sehun pulled off his gloves. “Usually makeup and clothing are the only areas where customisation happens.” He brushed a thumb over Lu Han’s eyelid. “Maybe there’s a certain colour of eyeshadow you want me to use?” Then trailed it over the apple of Lu Han’s cheek. “A specific shade of blush maybe?”

His thumb stopped at the mask and Sehun cupped Lu Han’s cheek. “Maybe you have your own makeup that you want me to use.” He murmured, staring down at Lu Han all the while.

“Hmmm.” Lu Han furrowed his eyebrows. “I have a lot of stuffed animals at home that I want to go with me.” He looked back up at Sehun. “What if you pump me full of barbecue sauce!?”

Sehun squinted at Lu Han.

“Or maybe if barbecue sauce is too difficult what about gochujang?”

“No that’s how you get a zombie.” Sehun heaved a sigh and ruffled Lu Han’s hair.

When they walked out of the lab Father Do and the family he was consulting were nowhere to be seen. Thus Lu Han continued pelting him with questions.

“I have these really ugly bruises that won’t go away can you hide those?”

“I have this weird scar on my lip can you do something about the lip scar?”

Sehun shoved his hands in his pockets, he hated the winter. The walk from the funeral home to his dwelling seemed especially long in the winter. “I have to drain the blood when embalming anyway. The bruises probably won’t show, and show me your scar.”

Lu Han tugged down his muffler then pointed to his bottom lip. “See?”

Sehun beckoned him closer.

Pouting, Lu Han stomped over closer. “What about now!?” His sentence cut off with a sharp squeak as Sehun planted a kiss on his lips.

“That was for new year.” Sehun said nonchalantly, opening the door of the shack and gesturing for Lu Han to go in first.

Criticism came immediately. “That wasn’t smooth you know.” Lu Han fussed, “That was cringey and awkward.” He ran to the microwave in the corner of Sehun’s room. “I stopped by the cup chicken stand earlier but you said you were working so I left everything in the microwave. I figured food probably wasn’t allowed in the embalming lab.”

Sehun accepted a cup from Lu Han and began mixing around the chicken, fried rice, and rice cakes.

"If you had to embalm me could you still detach?"

Sehun stopped stirring. Probably, at least enough to get the job done if he thought about it. He did his parents just fine after all.

"Yeah."

Lu Han snatched a piece of chicken from Sehun's cup. "You might be a bit too good at your job."

Sehun laughed at that.

Over the course of the evening they engaged in their usual dumb banter. Talking about video games, music, porn. While Lu Han wasn't one to hold prejudices, especially those formed on hearsay, he couldn't help thinking back to what Minseok told him earlier. Spiritual power acquired from awful means...

Minseok had debunked sacrificing dead bodies which only made Lu Han worry more. The facts he had were that first, it wasn't corpse sacrifice and second, it was bad enough for Minseok to keep mum about it. That in particular had Lu Han's imagination running wild. What if it involved sacrificing the living? Cannibalism maybe? Lu Han heard stories of people who were granted powers by eating still-beating hearts.

Either way Lu Han kept his eye on the clock. If Sehun had some unsavoury hobby Lu Han didn't want to miss his dorm's curfew.

"Something's been bothering you. Spit it out."

Lu Han thought about taking his leave then. Though really considering it, he didn't feel his skin crawl. There wasn't that tingling sense in the back of his head telling him to get out though there rarely was. One such perk of living alone was that he answered to no one.

He rarely did things just because they "made sense".

So he figured, why not?

“I don’t understand. I lived in Seoul until I was thirteen and they don’t seemed bothered about morticians and embalmers. So why does everyone shun you here?”

Sehun’s face darkened. “Someone said something.”

“Kind of.”

“In that case I’m surprised you’re still hanging around.”

Lu Han sat up on the futon. “They told me there was a thing, but they didn’t say what the thing was.”

Sehun saw something flash out the corner of his eye. _“Go ahead. Tell him. Then maybe he’ll leave you alone and you can get on with finding a REAL companion and get going on making an heir!”_

Heaving a great sigh Sehun walked over to the closet and retrieved a thick volume that Lu Han recognised to be a photo album. He looked so resigned, eyes narrow and gait careless. Lu Han almost felt bad for saying anything in the first place.

Sehun dropped the album next to Lu Han. “If you still want this talk you’re in for some real shit.”


	4. It Takes the Truth to Fool Me

One heavy volume rested between Sehun and Lu Han as they sat on the floor across from each other.

“Family album.” Sehun said hastily, pushing it towards Lu Han. “Flip through it a bit.”  
Lu Han turned the pages slowly at first. Carefully looking at pages and pages of what seemed to be the exact same photograph with variations in the people present. “Family photos over the generations? These all look very similar.” A fair amount of people were present in every photo. Sometimes Lu Han counted as few as five while other photos had as many as twelve. They were always dressed in white and standing in front of the same shrine.

“Yeah, boring family.” Sehun grumbled

“You’re not boring though.” Lu Han chirped. “Is there anything in particular I’m supposed to be picking up here?”

“Hmm.” Sehun couldn’t be bothered to rise from his position sprawled out on the floor. Rolling over to Lu Han he turned to the back of the album and pulled out a heavily folded up sheet of vellum. “Look at this.” He handed the vellum to Lu Han.

More puzzled than ever Lu Han unfolded the sheet of vellum and something was immediately off.  
“Your family doesn’t know how to do family trees.” Lu Han frowned, pursing his lips and he looked over the vellum. Family trees usually were structured like, well, a tree. Sehun’s family tree however resembled some kind of webbed tower. Lines were drawn between nearly every member. “You know when you have a family tree like this you don’t draw lines between every member or at least you label the relation.”

“That record of the Oh clan family tree has no errors.” Sehun said flatly, waiting for the bomb to drop.

Lu Han’s frown deepened. There were so many lines on the worn vellum it was hard to tell who was whose parents.

Wait.

Lu Han felt a shiver run down his spine, he had a really bad feeling about this. His eyes darted to the bottom of the vellum, Sehun's end of the family tree. The bottom was less dense, making it slightly easier to see the relations.

"You have a brother?" The very bottom where Sehun's name was scrawled in was the least dense area. Lu Han could see a name written next to Sehun's.

"Had."

Lu Han looked closer and there had to be a mistake. There was the appropriate line between Sehun's parents connected to his brother. Then there was an additional line from his brother to his...

Lu Han gasped, "he's your half-brother then."

"And my father, possibly an in-law as well. Congratulations, you now know the Oh family tradition." Sehun slow-clapped.

Starting from the bottom Lu Han pored over the vellum. Any possible consanguineous relation could be found on the record. He looked and up down the vellum several times, no fresh blood was entering the family.

“How…” Lu Han began, looking at the family tree spread out on the floor. “How are you not falling apart?” He held onto Sehun’s wrists. “How do you not have flipper hands? How are you not a flipper child!?” Lu Han whispered all the questions in a hushed tone, as if they were directed to himself instead of Sehun who stood dumbstruck next to him.

“Are you grossed out?” Sehun set his mouth in a grim line, looking to where Lu Han held his wrists. "I'm grossed out."

"No I just... Aren't there severe repercussions for copious inbreeding?" Lu Han looked stricken, eyes narrowed and mouth parted. “I’m more fascinated if anything. ”

"My grandfather slash uncle could channel the deceased." Every time Sehun mentioned his family there lay a hint of venom in his voice. "He said the Oh clan doesn't have to abide by the same rules of nature as the rest of the world."

"But there's a different set of rules that you _do_ have to abide by."

Sehun nodded.

They sat in silence, Lu Han holding onto Sehun's wrists all the while. Sometimes swaying them back and forth. "No one's tried to end it?"

"Grandfather tried apparently." Sehun winced. "Got with some woman he actually liked and had my two half-uncles." Sehun held onto Lu Han's wrists. "For whatever reason they couldn't be considered part of the clan though. So he went with his sister to provide an heir."

Lu Han kept swaying their hands. "So does that mean you have an arranged partner?"

"Nope," Sehun said with a smug grin. "I'm the last."

Lu Han couldn't help smiling at that. "Surely that isn't the right attitude for announcing you're the last of your kin?"

When Sehun frowned and looked down, Lu Han wondered if perhaps he had gone too far. An apology ready to go, rested right on the tip of his tongue until Sehun opened his mouth.

"We don't even have to talk about anyone else. _I_ despise the family."

"There is a law against incest in this country, but no one wants to get the police in here disturbing the peace." Sehun was seething now. "So people have their own ways of causing grief."

"My grandfather worked as an executioner on the side while people paid him to channel spirits." Sehun paused to look at Lu Han, waiting until Lu Han returned his glance before continuing.

"You know why the whole family works in the death industry? It's because we won't be accepted anywhere else."

"You really don’t like them." Lu Han said quietly.

"How could I? My father's my half-brother, my mother is also my aunt and possible grandmother." Sehun's voice slowly rose in volume, "it’s all fucked up beyond measure. I can't have a relationship with any of them."

Lu Han let go of Sehun's wrists to hold his hands.

"You know," Sehun whispered, "I didn't feel anything when embalming them."

-Sehun you've said enough. Get him out.-

 _Father_ , Sehun thought grumpily and held Lu Han's hands back. Father always showed up at the best times. By best Sehun meant worst.

-You're running out of time Sehun. Stop kissing him and make an heir first, friends can come later.-

Sehun leaned in closer to Lu Han. It was a knee-jerk reaction for him to do the exact opposite of whatever father said. He couldn't help it, honest. "Are you freaked out at all?" He leaned in two or so inches away from Lu Han's face. Swaying his hands to and fro.

-Sehun if you don't stop right now there will be _hell_ to pay.-

Before Sehun could lean in to administer the final blow Lu Han beat him to it. Nigh forcing his face against Sehun's in his eagerness.

"You can't just put your awkward moves on me all the time." Lu Han said with a grin as they parted, afterwards Sehun heard a sigh from the corner.

-Fine. Have it your way. Don't say I didn't warn you though.-

 _I will_ , Sehun thought with much vitriol, then leaned down for another kiss. Kissing Lu Han was fun, he was warm and made Sehun feel warmer after kisses.

Reluctant to pull away completely Lu Han nuzzled Sehun’s nose. “What other abilities did people in your family have? Were they really so great that they found it worth it to keep up the inbreeding?” Lu Han thought about it, surely if the traits inherited by the Oh males were so great than they would be quite well known?

Sehun resumed his prior stance of laying defeated on the floor. “Dumb stuff, vague premonitory senses. They came in really handy though for the family. I think the people who decided to put those powers to use made the majority of the family fortune.” Sehun paused as Lu Han kneeled and maneouvered Sehun’s head onto his lap.

“And I think sometimes important people bribed them for help. I don’t know how true that is, father told me stories.”

Lu Han hummed, "Do you do something?" 

“I…” Sehun hesitated. Did he do something?

“I bury the bodies and everyone’s always mad at me.” Sehun turned over, burying his face in Lu Han’s thighs. Discussion over.

*

“Remember, you’re great.”

Lu Han cupped his hands over his mouth then whispered, “you’re smart enough, you’re good enough, and people like you.” 

Nervously glancing toward the pile of blankets in the main room, Lu Han confirmed that Sehun was still asleep for the hundredth time before turning back to the mirror. “Fighting!” He whispered to his reflection, balling his hand into a fist. The smile on his face fell right off after two seconds while Lu Han surveyed the dark bathroom.

“You’ll be fine,” he rasped to his reflection. “You’ll be fine!” Lu Han repeated in a more confident whisper. Taking a quick look around to make sure everything was still dark, Lu Han closed his eyes then leaned in. Pressing a kiss against the mirror, right on his reflection’s lips. 

“Third year of uni and you’re still getting jitters for the first day of term?” 

Lu Han’s eyes flew open as he heard Sehun’s groggy voice from behind him, winding his arms around Lu Han’s waist.

“You get a good luck kiss from me too.” Hopefully Lu Han wouldn’t think he was sleep-walking. In all fairness Sehun still wasn’t sure if he was sleep-walking or not as he kissed Lu Han’s cheek. 

“What time is it anyway?” Sehun blearily opened his eyes for the first time that day. Lu Han looked nice with form-fitting jeans with a spendy graphic tee and baseball jacket. All dressed to impress on the first day of term, what a good boy.

“Half past five.”

“...” Sehun shut his eyes, taking a few moments to conduct the simple arithmetic of finding how much time there was until Lu Han needed to be off to school.

“I’m going back to bed.”

*

After “The Talk” it was as if whatever gloomy black cloud that had been hanging over Sehun’s shack dissipated. 

Nothing changed, much.

Two months later and Lu Han still came over nearly every day. Sehun joked that he might as well move out of the dorm and stay with him at the graveyard. So one day, Lu Han did. Making himself well at home by bringing in his blue and white duvet, his army of giant plushies, and his whole wardrobe which ranged from “boy next door” to “fashion terrorist”. Sehun probably liked the wardrobe the most, trying on all of Lu Han’s clothes while the other was at school was fun.

Sehun made a mental note; _Perk the First of Cohabitation: Sharing stuff._

“I’m home!” Lu Han sang, closing the door carefully as not to slam it as he came in. “That wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it’d be!”

“Oh?” Sehun didn’t budge from where he was, hunched in front of the SNES. “How was class?”

“Oh my class today wasn’t very big so the professor went around asking everyone what kind of story you think you would be in.”

“And what did you say?”

“I think I’d be in a cool action adventure manga like Two Piece!” Lu Han scratched the back of his head. “But I was kind of nervous about saying that so I just said a fairy tale,” Lu Han said with a little laugh. “What do you think Sehunnie?”

“I think you’d be the first love in a girly manga.” 

“Oy!” Lu Han quickly ran over to sit down next to Sehun and punch him on the arm. He then remembered something. “Oh also I got invited to a thing! I ran into a bunch of Chinese students who’re watching the game tonight in one of the dorms.” 

“Not a bad first day.” Sehun said monotonously, busy playing Motherbound and trying to _find that dumb ice-cream machine for that dumb maid that wanted salmon flavoured ice-cream._ “Anything else?”

Lu Han pulled a large box out of his bag. “Here’s the gundam you wanted! Destiny high grade right?” 

“Yeah...” Sehun’s flush as he accepted the box was nearly undetectable. Keyword: nearly.

“Hey don’t worry!” Lu Han ruffled Sehun’s hair. “I used to be really into this stuff too! Lego and gundams.”

“Then what happened?” Sehun set the box aside. He would have plenty of time for his new toy later.

“The fun ends as soon as you put something together y’know? I have to try hard not to complete it too fast.” Lu Han giggled nervously. “And… One teacher gave us homework already. He’s also the one that had us read that book over break and now we have to write a review on it.” He chewed his lip, “Sehun can you come with me?” His voice quivered as he posed the question. To Lu Han, there was a fine line between not acknowledging the elephant in the room because it wasn’t worth acknowledging and not acknowledging it because it really was worth acknowledging but deluding oneself into thinking the former.

They had gone on plenty of outings together. Be it to the zoo, the park, or wherever else, the awkward stares followed. Sehun didn’t seem bothered by it so Lu Han made a point of not mentioning it. Somehow he felt that Sehun would fancy him constantly asking “Are you okay? Is everything alright?”

Lu Han snorted. Why wouldn’t everything be okay?

"Well," Sehun said quietly. This mission to find the salmon-flavoured ice cream machine was going terribly. Saving and switching off the console, he wandered over to the closet to dress himself for work. "You know I have no clue how football works right?"

"I still want you to come," Lu Han insisted with a pout. "Just in case it's awkward or something. There was only two of them and they seemed close. I don't want to end up as a third wheel."

Sehun stayed quiet for a few minutes, making a grand show of tying his shoelaces properly. Finally when it seemed like Lu Han's questioning gaze was about to burn through the back of his head with its intensity, Sehun replied.

"Have you started on your work yet?"

"N-no.." Lu Han said meekly, twiddling his thumbs.

Sehun walked to the door. “Start on your homework. I have one body today so I’ll be out for a few hours.”

“Wait let me help!”

“No,” Sehun said firmly. “Work on school stuff. If you make make good progress by the time I get back I’ll go with you tonight. Think of it as doing your future self a favour.”

Lu Han waited until a few minutes after Sehun went out before shouting, “I hate brown! Your suit’s ugly!” Then he blew a raspberry at Sehun’s general direction.

Within seconds his mobile pinged.

_“I heard that. I heard Man U hasn’t been doing so well lately. It’d be a shame if they lost tonight and you didn’t have anyone for emotional support.”_

A voice at the back of Lu Han’s head told him to chase down Sehun in the embalming lab and throw his mobile at him.

Lu Han settled down in front of Sehun’s computer and opened up word processor instead.

*

"Aw come on, please?"

"No," Sehun said, doing last minute arrangements to the boy on the viewing table. "Fuck off. Normally people don't watch me work."

"Just a little jab down there," The boy mimed a framing motion around his groin, "you have a syringe. I bet you could do it in two seconds!"

"No." Sehun thought about what he could do to make the boy shut up. Though seeing as he was dead already limited Sehun's options.

"Don't tell me you've never tried it before!"

"Once the deceased's wife asked me to do it." Sehun kept his expression neutral.

"So it _does_ do something! Can it make a boner if you inject it with embalming fluid?"

Sehun sighed, "it can."

_"He's all ready, you can see him now."_

Hearing Father Do talking to the grieving father outside was Sehun's cue to get out of there as soon as possible. He was bad with families, bad with people really. By now he could honestly say that he preferred the company of the dead to the living. He didn't think it was a compassion issue. Every cadaver received had been a person with a life once and Sehun never forgot that.

Once, Sehun had asked Father Do if it was because he didn't smile.

_"No." Father Do frantically shook his head. "Embalmers shouldn't smile."_

Either way Sehun was looking forward to getting away from this kid.

As Sehun walked back into the lab to wash his hands he heard Father Do leading the deceased's father into the viewing room. Hopefully Lu Han got a fair amount of work done, even if Sehun didn't really want to go to whatever thing was happening tonight. He winced at the thought, he didn't care for sports or other people.

A knock on the lab door broke Sehun out of his reverie.

"Sehun? I know you're in there. Come out, you're wanted."

Sehun froze. Clients rarely wanted to speak with him, especially after the procedure. Drying off his hands, he straightened his suit then tentatively returned. To be honest his impressive stature did little for his nerves. Every time Father Do made the dreaded announcement that the family wanted to see him Sehun went on alert, he was far more adept at masking it than Lu Han.

Father Do stood next to an ashen-faced man with untrimmed whiskers. The man had probably been occupied grieving and thus neglected personal grooming. Sehun could understand, just because he did fear death that didn't mean he didn't understand how much havoc death could wreak. In the dim glow of the viewing room Sehun saw a sheen on the man's face and neck. Had he stayed the whole time Sehun was working?

"Hello." Sehun greeted, bowing deeply. Father Do never failed to scold his ear off whenever he neglected to show manners.

"My son... You worked on my son?" The man stepped forward, beginning to reach a hand out to Sehun then withdrawing it. His voice was pitched higher than Sehun expected, the father looked gruff with the whiskers. However the red handkerchief in his other fist told a different story.

Sehun nodded, the less he spoke the better.

"How old are you embalmer?"

"Nineteen."

The man's face scrunched up. "My son turned nineteen on the day he died. Dumb boy, had too much fun at his birthday party." His face then crumpled completely. Everything happened in slow-motion to Sehun. The man holding his handkerchief tighter, his face screwing up as if a new wave of tears was imminent, then nearly tripping in his enthusiasm to bear hug Sehun.

"Thank you for your work embalmer," the man sobbed against Sehun's shoulder. He came in just a hair or two shorter than Sehun.

"Thank you so much, he looks ready to dance."

Reluctantly, Sehun embraced the man back, giving him awkward but hopefully reassuring pats on the back. All in all this was probably one of his best experiences. Being congratulated for a job well done was always nice but alas being an embalmer and tending to the graveyard was thankless work. Not to mention the touching display of grief from the father. He sure hoped someone loved him this much when he died.

A few more hugs and "thank you"s later Sehun was on his way back home. The walk from the funeral home to his shack was arguably one of the longest walks in existence.

Upon walking in he was treated to the sight of Lu Han hunched in front of the SNES playing Motherbound.

"Yo." Lu Han called out. He didn't even have the grace to act ashamed.

Sehun sighed and sat down next to him. “Did you do any work?”

“What if I said no?”

“That better not be true.” Sehun testily ran his fingers lightly over Lu Han’s sides. Someone was getting a titty twister if they didn’t do any work for all the time he was gone. 

“Check your computer.”

Sehun clicked on the document Lu Han created, he wasn't impressed. "You have an outline and thesis..."

"Essays are difficult," Lu Han whined.

Sehun scrolled through the whopping seven hundred words Lu Han had typed. "I'm not sure if this warrants me going to the party with you."

"I also found the salmon-flavoured ice cream machine for you," Lu Han sing-songed from the console.

Sehun pondered it for a moment.

"Yeah I'll go with you."

*

The bus ride over to the dorm rolled along peacefully. Not many rode the bus in a small town on a late Tuesday afternoon in March after all.

"Hey turn around for a sec, back to me."Sehun nudged Lu Han's side. "No _your_ back to me," he repeated for emphasis. Manhandling Lu Han so that Lu Han was turned away.

Despite the bus being empty they sat at the back anyway. More privacy and more legroom like that.

"Hey hey where are you shoving?" Lu Han wormed around in Sehun's grip. When Sehun didn't relent he toed his trainers off. "It's rude if I put my feet on the seat."

"No one gives a shit," Sehun grunted. "Sit normally," he added as Lu Han sat mermaid-style in an attempt to keep his feet off the seat cushion. "Hug your knees to your chest and relax."

After Lu Han did as commanded Sehun lightly traced his back. "Your posture's really bad. Remember to sit up straight okay?"

“Your back rubs leave weird bruises,” Lu Han grumbled.

“I don’t push down that hard, and just rolling around in your sleep leaves you with weird bruises. You bruise like a peach.” Sehun located a knot and dug into with a knuckle.

As Sehun had already gotten this far Lu Han decided to take it. Looking on the bright side, his shoulders did feel a lot looser after Sehun worked him. “You sure you’re not tired? I’ve just been sitting around while you’ve been working all day.”

Sehun shrugged. "Eh, the bus takes a while and you need it."

Lu Han made a face but let Sehun get on with it. The rest of the bus ride went by in comfortable silence. Eventually Sehun’s rough touches stopped hurting enough for Lu Han to drift off to a kind of half sleep.

"Lu Han... Lu Han! It's the end of the route soon. Is that our stop?"

Lu Han felt as if he was floating. "Hnn?" He cracked a large yawn and stretched. "How long was I out for?"

"Twenty minutes at least." Sehun tried to keep from smirking but the corners of his lips went ahead and forced themselves up anyway. "It was that good?"

"Tch. Don't flatter yourself." However when Lu Han turned to put his shoes back on he realised in horror that it indeed _was_ that good if the slight tightening in his trousers was any indicator. It wasn't his fault, honest. Wouldn't be the first accidental boner of his either. The bus was dark and Sehun's big warm hands felt really nice, honestly Sehun should be flattered. Of course that was only if he found out, which he wouldn't.

"Lu Han are you okay? You don't look so well."

Lu Han took a deep breath, opened his eyes then stood up. "Yeah it's our stop. We should make our way to the front." Looking down presented Lu Han with no tent in his trousers, fantastic. Just as everyone had a mental wank bank Lu Han made sure to keep a mental dearth of boner killing fodder as well. That was what he told himself anyway.

On the way to the dorm Lu Han began to have qualms as to how good an idea bringing Sehun along was. Before whenever he had doubts over how housebroken Sehun was Lu Han chided himself for even thinking such a thing. Sehun had mentioned social etiquette coaching in the past from Mr Do, but Sehun also frequently mentioned how much he hated everyone.

Then there was the opposite end of the spectrum. While Sehun wasn't completely hopeless in social situations maybe inviting him to a football night wasn't the best start. Sehun had said it himself, he wasn't really big on sports and didn't know how football worked beyond people trying to kick the ball in the goal.

That was pretty much the majority of football anyway though, and truthfully one didn't watch football with friends to scrutinise every detail of the game.

As they reached the door Lu Han shook his head. Sehun was competent, smart, and nineteen years old. He would be fine, or so Lu Han hoped.


	5. We're Going for a Ride

Lu Han wasn't sure what the protocol for the situation was, to say he was worried about Sehun was an understatement.

In the past five minutes he had envisioned how this night could turn out many times. One scenario was Lu Han being the "helicopter friend", hanging around Sehun the whole night and making sure nothing bad happened. However if he did that he could easily imagine himself being a nuisance to everyone, including Sehun. Besides, he doubted Sehun could do anything really bad.

The other was letting Sehun be, which seemed a lot like making him fend for himself in a den of angry tigers. While Yixing and Zitao certainly seemed nice enough Lu Han didn't know how they would treat Sehun. Lu Han thought back to his first meeting with Sehun.

Hopefully Zitao and Yixing wouldn’t take it badly if Sehun wasn’t jumping out of his seat to be sociable.

Also how was he supposed to introduce Sehun?

_“Hi this is my friend Sehun, he does embalming and he’s kinda shy but he’s alright I promise!”_

Lu Han shook his head.

_“Hi this is my friend Sehun, he works at the graveyard. Be nice to him okay?”_

Hmmmm. No.

In the end when the moment finally came Lu Han settled on “This is my friend Sehun” and smiled. He would leave it at that.

Sehun remained stoic but nodded accordingly.

The floor that Yixing and Zitao lived on had a communal large-screen television at the end of the hallway. A whole crowd had gathered to watch the game and Lu Han’s eyes widened as he saw a few girls in the crowd.

“They let girls on the male floors now?” He turned to Yixing, incredulous.

“Shhhh.” Zitao clapped a hand over Lu Han’s mouth. “This floor has the nicest TV and watching football isn’t the naughtiest thing we could be doing.”

Lu Han pulled Zitao’s hand off of his mouth. “Did I just get the short end of the floor supervisor stick? They confiscated my takoyaki maker so fast last term!”

Zitao’s face lit up in a smug “cat got the cream” grin and he shrugged. “Oh I don’t know. The supervisor _is_ supposed to keep fire hazards out.”

“The supervisor is also supposed to keep girls off of boy floors,” Lu Han hissed.

“You probably stuttered out an apology in that special high pitched voice you do when you’re nervous.”

Sehun _spoke_.

Zitao tapped Lu Han’s shoulder. “Your friend here has a point. Good behaviour doesn’t always pay off you know?” Making L shapes with his fingers Zitao framed Lu Han’s face. “Put some effort into your aegyo. You’d have the whole world dancing in the palm of your hand.”

Lu Han stayed quiet for a moment then turned to Zitao. “I heard you got a care package full of hickory nuts recently,” he said slowly. “Could you find it in you to spare some for me? Pleeeaaase?” Lu Han opened his eyes wide and cupped his cheeks.

Zitao wrinkled his nose. “Maybe try again after you’ve had some practise. Start with the ahjummas and ahjussis who own the snack stands. Turn on the charm and see if they give you extra toppings or something.”

Ultimately there wasn’t much focus on the game. The volume on the television was set on high but the crowd was so loud that it was little more than background noise. People still cheered accordingly whenever a goal happens, though Lu Han swore he felt the ground rumble in the crowd’s enthusiasm.

“I have never shaved my legs,” Sehun deadpanned.

Lu Han swilled the soju in his shot glass. The nice thing about gatherings at the beginning of term was for the most part people didn’t know each other very well. The football viewing party had been no different, so naturally someone had suggested a game. 

There was a moment of silence. Overall bringing Sehun along had gone swimmingly. Sometimes he said something quirky but all of them were quirky to be honest. 

Zitao opened his mouth, presumptuously to nag Sehun about his lack of adherence to the proper question format. 

_“You’re supposed to preface every question with ‘Never Have I Ever’ okay?”_

Every time Sehun was reprimanded he would blink and nod, then go straight back to doing as he pleased.

“Wait seriously?”

They all sat in a circle on the carpet. Interrupting Zitao was a man sitting to Lu Han’s right and if Lu Han remembered correctly the man had introduced himself as Jongdae who was definitely not from Seoul.

Sehun shook his head. “Nope never.”

Jongdae leaned forward, glaring at Sehun who had somehow ended up opposite of the circle to Lu Han. “Not even stripes or anything?”

Sehun raised his hands high in the air and began to sway. “Nope. Everyone drink.”

To Lu Han’s surprise everyone drank, including himself. “Why did you shave,” he asked after Jongdae took his shot.

“Someone dared me to do stripes on my legs. You?”

Lu Han looked down. “Oh just… In the summer when I wear tank tops it’s too indecent to have underarm hair. I think underarm hair makes the heat worse too.”

They both shrugged while Zitao went ahead.

"Never have I ever been held back a year," he said with a with a big smug grin. No one moved so Zitao crawled over right in front of Lu Han and repeated his question. _"Never have I ever been held back a year."_ This time he said it louder, greatly exaggerating his enunciation.

"Neither have I," Lu Han said simply.

Zitao pouted. "You're a third year undergrad right? How come you started uni at twenty?"

"There now was it so difficult just to ask?" Lu Han smiled, though he could have done without Zitao throwing him under the bus in front of all these people.

He thought back to when he first left his uncle's household. He had more or less worked his ass off nonstop since then just so he wouldn't have to come crawling back.

"It's kind a long story," Lu Han said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"If you're willing to tell we'll listen to it all," Yixing offered with a warm smile.

Lu Han closed his eyes and tried to think back to the beginning.

_"When I was sixteen..."_

*

"Darling shall we all go out together this weekend? You, me, and Lu Han? I don't think it's good for him to be cooped up in the house all the time. I know you have this weekend off too."

Lu Han's bedroom was at the end of the second floor hallway. It had started out immensely roomy, though a few weeks in the custody of his new guardians had rendered the roominess awful and oppressive. Some of Lu Han’s earliest memories of his days in the Kim household were of him buying large stuffed animals and gundams. Time to kill and space to fill, he hardly left the room in those days.

His room happened to be very close to his aunt and uncle’s bedroom. Only the bathroom stood in between the two rooms. If Lu Han listened very closely and held his breath, he could catch strains of his foster parents’ conversation, a tip that hardly came in handy as they were never home.

“Ah... You both go on and have a fun time without me. I need the time to work on my project.”

Silence followed and Lu Han huddled closer to the wall nearest to the bedroom. Auntie was probably unhappy, Uncle Joonmyeon had been neglecting a lot of activities just to work on his project. It wasn’t a recent thing either, although Lu Han couldn’t quite remember when they had all started seeing Uncle Joonmyeon even less. All they saw of him these days was a short man hunched in his workspace, his normally impeccably styled brown hair in a mess.

“Joonmyeon-ah, you’ve been working so hard lately. Don’t you think it’d be good to take a break?”

“I’m fine I-”

“You realise you’ve been spending more time with this doll than us?”

Lu Han moved away from the wall and began to tap at his keyboard. His foster parents never got in any obvious disagreements. There were never any shouting matches or harsh words flung at each other, and to Lu Han that somehow made it all worse. That even when both parties were doing their best to remain patient with one another they still couldn’t resolve their conflicts once and for all. 

Four years of living with them and Lu Han wasn’t entirely sure if they loved each other but he did get a sense that they were at least fond. He sincerely hoped that he wasn’t the reason for this steadily increasing dissatisfaction between his aunt and uncle. 

One time several months ago his Uncle Joonmyeon had actually taken him to see his “project”. While he had apparently started the doll before Lu Han came in, there was no mistaking who the doll was supposed to resemble.

In the end they never went on that weekend trip.

The very next day when Lu Han came home the house was barren. It was all business as usual, earlier at school he had been craving ramyeon so he flipped the switch on the kettle to get that process started. However when he made it up the stairs all thoughts of ramyeon went out the window.

The door of Uncle Joonmyeon’s study was wide open. 

That wasn’t right, Uncle Joonmyeon’s study was always locked and shut. For the whole time Lu Han lived there he had only seen the interior of the study once when Uncle Joonmyeon had brought him in to show off the doll. Back then Lu Han was younger, shorter, and there was only one shoddy lamp illuminating the study. Jagged tools had littered the study and the flickering light had reflected off of them in odd ways, casting imposing shadows on the walls. 

_“What do you think of him Lu Han?”_

Lu Han recalled peering into a large crate in the middle of the modest study and jumping back in shock. In the crate there had been a small boy with bright blond hair and an awfully familiar face curled up and sleeping. 

It was one of those moments in his life that Lu Han remembered with haunting precision. To this day he still remembered how his hands clammed up and trembled as he reached out to touch the replica in the crate to make sure that it was indeed only a replica. 

The doll’s cheek was smooth and velvety, a hint too firm to be a human but very realistic none the less. 

_“Ah!”_

When Lu Han pressed a bit harder on the doll’s cheek the doll’s head tilted to the side and the eyes fluttered briefly.

However what caught Lu Han’s attention attention was the doll’s hair. Perhaps it was a trick of the light but he swore he could see a little bit of black at the roots. He thought back to when Uncle Joonmyeon helped him dye and cut his hair for the first time.

Lu Han supposed anything was a possible crafting component when one worked in the toy industry. He wasn’t bothered much, his father had constantly emphasised the importance of not judging a book by its cover, or background, or a lot of things actually. Thinking about it, maybe father had his own secrets.

He shook his head. Presently the study had been turned upside down. Papers all over the floor and heavy books pulled out of their proper places on the shelf. Most notably the large crate with the doll was missing, all that was left in its place were a few black smudges and scorch marks.

There were a number of conclusions that could be drawn from the state of Uncle Joonmyeon’s study. Perhaps he had decided to take the doll out for a spot of fresh air. After all he cared for the doll like it was a living being. Sometimes he had heard Uncle Joonmyeon quietly conversing with the doll. Late at night Lu Han would wander down to the kitchen for a glass of water, only to return to his room empty handed when he saw the study light on. 

Giving it more thought, Lu Han decided that a quick sortie was not a likely conclusion. Uncle Joonmyeon was very neat, he would never leave the room in such disarray. Perhaps there had been an intruder.

Lu Han bolted back down the stairs alert and ready to find any traces of a break in or struggle but all he found was Auntie Han on the sofa. Face grim she clutched the house phone with both hands as if her life depended on it. 

Just like that all of the resolve he built up had deflated, he didn’t know where to start. Was she okay? Where was Uncle Joonmyeon and was he okay? What happened in the study?

Before he could ask any of those questions his aunt’s taut voice cut through his thoughts.

“The police have been called. They’ll be here soon.”

Okay so it was a fair assumption that whatever happened was bad.

“Lu Han,” Auntie Han continued in the same low tone, only her lips moved. “Maybe you should stay at a friend’s house for a while. I’ll call you when this all blows over.”

“Is everything okay,” Lu Han asked when he finally found his words.

Auntie Han shook her head.

Lu Han tried something else. “Where’s Uncle Joonmyeon?”

“He…” she faltered, “he won’t be coming back. Probably.”

*

Lu Han cleared his throat. “When I was sixteen I moved out to live alone because my family situation was messy.” 

“I lived in a small town goshiwon and worked a lot of different jobs,” he recalled fondly. “I had to get my living situation under control before starting university. See?” Seeing the circle of shocked faces around him made him smile.

Several months after he had been subtly forced from the Kim household his aunt did indeed call him saying that things had “blown over”. By then he was kind of settled in to his new life and although it wasn’t as cushy as he was used to, Lu Han came to the conclusion that he preferred it that way.

More than anything Lu Han lamented the lost opportunity to ask Uncle Joonmyeon a few questions. His father and Uncle Joonmyeon were brothers weren’t they? Lu Han just wanted to hear more about the family, maybe even just some stories about what his father was like growing up.

While Lu Han was certain that it wasn’t intentional by this point his family’s support felt rather shaky. Twice now it was as if he was an unassuming parlour table and his family was a rug that was suddenly yanked out from under him. Leaving him wobbly and scrambling to find stability once again.

Ultimately creating stability for himself had taken a bit longer than anticipated. Though to Lu Han, twenty was an alright age to start university.

Jongdae was the first to break the silence. “I am so fucking sorry about every immigrant joke I’ve ever made around you.”

Lu Han giggled, Jongdae was always good at ice breakers and this time was no different. After Jongdae spoke up it seemed everyone had questions. It was all good natured curiosity, the kind Lu Han didn’t mind entertaining.

“Is that why you’re so good at improv?”

“Yeah I used to play nights in restaurants.” Lu Han smiled, he didn’t take piano lessons for long but improvisation wasn’t really something you learned in lessons. 

“That’s why you make better milk tea than our cafe worker Zitao here?” Zitao glared at Yixing.

“Oh yeah the milk tea shop was probably the best job,” Lu Han chirped. “Though I think I gained weight working there. They let me make my own combinations after hours and try them,” he sighed dramatically, “it was awful.”

“You can make milk tea,” Sehun cut in, his face so serious it brought a laugh from the whole circle.

Sehun looked absolutely crestfallen as it became evident that seemingly everyone on Earth but him had tried Lu Han’s special milk tea. 

“You only need to ask!” Lu Han panicked at the kicked puppy expression on Sehun’s face. “I live with you anyway so you can try it whenever you want!”

“Wait this guy is why you left the dorms,” Zitao asked incredulously. “And you’ve only introduced him to us now?

“Erm… I… No hard questions please.” Lu Han covered his face.

“I can imagine this now.” Zitao looked over to Sehun. “You poor bastard, we’ve all heard what it was like to room with Lu.”

Sehun shrugged. “He behaves with the proper coaxing.”

Zitao raised an eyebrow. “Friends, huh,” he said, making air quotes with his fingers.

“Friends,” Sehun and Lu Han chorused.

“Sehun must have the patience of a god,” Yixing joked while Zitao grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like “or Lu Han must be a freak in bed.”

“Guy love isn’t to be underestimated.” Lu Han walked over to sit next to Sehun and held onto his arm. 

“Or maybe you’ve gone straight into the old married couple phase.”

Sehun and Lu Han looked at each other and much to Lu Han’s surprise, Sehun played along. Quickly fashioning a ring out of a gold foil chocolate wrapper and sliding it onto Lu Han’s finger. 

Lu Han gasped. “He made me a ring!” There was some groaning in the crowd, mostly raucous laughter.

“No you guys don’t understand.” Lu Han pressed a hand to his cheek, whether in mock or actual shock no one could tell. “He could have just ripped a pop tab and used that for a ring but no. He _made_ one.”

The match ended soon after. Lu Han’s beloved United lost and as it turned out he picked the wrong people to watch a football game with.

“Haha sorry we all like Bayern here.” Someone tried to console Lu Han though he put up a fuss in jest. 

With the game over the party died soon after and Sehun reminded them that buses were stopping soon. 

*

“Do you take all losses this badly?”

On the way back Lu Han hadn’t said a word. So when he let out a loud guffaw Sehun was surprised.

“Oh just a little glum that’s all. It stings a little less now.” Lu Han rolled over in the futon to face Sehun. “So what did you think about tonight?”

Sehun huddled in his duvet burying half of his face. Lu Han would argue that contrary to what Yixing said, they hadn’t reached the “old married couple” phase. There were still disputes sometimes, little ones. Lu Han liked to stay awake into the unholy hours while Sehun slept late but still drew a hard line at one in the morning. The sleep schedules weren’t high on the list of things they argued about however. More often than not Sehun staying awake into the twilight hours right along with Lu Han given the “on-call” nature of his job. 

Topping the list was the matter of temperature regulation rather. In the middle of March no one under the age of ninety still had the radiator running, save for Sehun that was. Lu Han supposed that Sehun’s way of compensating for lost heat was clinging onto him in the futon.

“I think you’re amazing.”

“Hmm?” Lu Han raised an eyebrow. Sehun was the last person he had expected to hear that from.

“It’s hard isn’t it? Starting over by yourself?”

Lu Han laughed nervously. “That’s what you did though isn’t it? You tell me.”

Sehun snorted. “Please. I hardly remember my parents and they left me with a job that generates three million won a year that I barely use.” He snuggled closer to Lu Han. “You however, had to deal with adjusting your expectations I presume.”

“How’s your head? Is it noisy tonight?” Lu Han hastily changed the subject. He was good with compliment, he felt like a wilting flower he just wanted to hide. Sure they felt nice but he couldn’t just sit there and take it.

“It’s always noisy.”

“Do you wanna-”

Scarcely after the words left his lips Sehun grabbed his waist and pulled Lu Han onto his chest.

Lu Han didn’t know when the change had occurred. One evening Sehun came back looking more like hell than usual… and he just wanted to help.

Sehun’s hands slid into the back of his shorts while Lu Han slanted his mouth over Sehun’s. “You brushed didn’t you,” he asked, glaring down at Sehun.

After living together for several months it was inevitable that Lu Han would learn new things about Sehun. Once in a while Sehun would stare at strange corners, tilt his head in certain directions. Whenever Lu Han asked about it Sehun only grumbled something along the lines of “it’s noisy” or “I saw a something.”

“Of course,” Sehun panted. Retracting his hand from Lu Han’s pants to cup the back of his head and pull him down for a kiss.

Lu Han yelped when he felt Sehun’s tongue brush against his lips. _How the young learn fast_ he thought drolly. Not even a month ago Sehun was the one jumping back in surprise when Lu Han had tried to introduce some cheeky tongue.

With Sehun, Lu Han didn't have many concerns about fucking up but he preferred letting Sehun set the pace anyway. Lu Han wasn't picky. That Sehun was touchy at all came as a pleasant surprise to him.

“Should you do something about these?” Sehun looked to the bruise on Lu Han’s shoulder. Lu Han didn’t know where he got it from, he never did. However Sehun was sure that it wasn’t normal for someone to bruise this easily.

“Maybe when summer rolls around.”

All in all life had panned out fairly well for Lu Han after those arduous few years which he considered the nadir. Though if anything it had to, after rock-bottom life could only get better.

Right?


	6. Lock the Doors and Close the Blinds

To say Sehun liked having someone dote him was an understatement.

After working the ovens all day on top of the usual business Sehun was weary. Highway pileup a few days earlier. Many relatives didn’t want to pay for any more post death procedures than necessary. Which was just fine with Sehun, he liked the oven room after all. The oven room was warm and often when the lab became too cold for him he would take his breaks in the oven room. Even if the summer inferno raged on outside as it did now.

However oven work consequently involved doing a little extra before putting the cadaver in the oven (removing anything from the body that shouldn’t be in an oven). Then other tasks during the two hours the cremation ovens had to be run (burials), and finally the work that came after the ovens were finished. At the end of the two hour cycle all that was left were bone fragments.

For the most part, Korean families wanted their remains nice and ashy. Which meant it was up to Sehun to make it so. With his hands, and a hammer.

“Fuck!” Sehun shouted as the end of the hoe snapped in the oven. 

The man standing next to the urn behind Sehun pointed to the corner of the oven. “You missed some pieces.” 

Sehun paid him no mind and slapped his sooty hands to his face. They had a backup tool somewhere. Once many many years ago there was a broom used to sweep remains out of the oven, but to Sehun the hoe seemed more thorough. Countless times bereaved families had asked him if there was a possibility of the ashes of others mixing with the ashes of their deceased.

Truthfully, it was impossible to completely avoid mixing between ash but that didn’t stop Sehun from trying. Hate annoying families as he might, he still had a duty to respect the dead and their family’s wishes.

That and Father Do was busy with a guest outside. Sehun was in no condition to be seen by anyone in all his flyaway hair and soot-caked glory. He didn’t look far off from a chimney sweep, only difference being he wielded a broken hoe instead.

Sehun closed his eyes. “I’m fine. Last job of the day. I’m fine.”

“Hi fine! I’m dad!” The man behind him chirped.

“You’re awfully cheerful for someone who just died with their family on a road trip.” Sehun eyed the opening of the oven. There was another option actually…

The man shrugged. “You win some you lose some- Hey! What are you doing!?”

Sehun hefted a knee up onto the edge of the oven. Generally crawling into the oven was strongly discouraged, not that it needed to be. On top of most people being naturally unwilling to crawl into an oven, most crematories were only large enough for a body to lay motionless. There wasn’t any reason for any living person to go crawling in there.

The Oh funeral home crematories were a mild outlier in that respect. Several years ago there was an incident where an oven nearly blew up in the midst of trying to cremate a “large” ( _more like morbidly obese_ Sehun snorted) cadaver. Since then the oven room had been fitted with larger than standard ovens. A.K.A. Ovens big enough for Sehun to comfortably crawl around and hang out in if he so wished.

Which he didn’t. The novelty of crawling around in the crematory had worn off fast the first time Sehun did it. Despite the mandatory hour of cooldown time after a job, the oven was still hot to the touch. Not to mention the havoc that crawling around in a cramped space wreaked on Sehun’s knees and back. 

Just barely curbing the urge to groan, Sehun grabbed the end of the hoe and scraped the bone fragments into a neat heap. Soon this would all be over and he could go back home and complain to Lu Han.

Quickly he scraped the fragment pile onto a dustpan then dumped it onto the pulverising table. Sweaty, smudged in black from head to toe, and reeking of fire. Sehun wondered if Lu Han would be disturbed by him coming home like this.

Probably.

Well… Maybe he shouldn’t be so quick to write Lu Han off. After living with Sehun for a few months now, Lu Han had probably seen and smelled worse.

Twenty minutes into pummeling away at the fragments the head of the hammer fell right off. Sehun looked to the broken hoe over to the broken hammer then at the free space on the wall furthest away from anything of value.

Instead of cursing loudly and throwing everything at the wall, Sehun sweeped the finished ash into the urn and moved off to the side.

A knock came on the door and without waiting for any answer from Sehun, Father Do walked and handed Sehun an envelope. “Sehun-ah something came for you in the post, also you’re done for the day aren’t you? Go home, you’ll get heat stroke if you keep hanging around in here. I’ll call you if anything else comes up.”

Sehun turned around and Father Do tutted.

“Sehun is that a cigarillo!? You know you’re not allowed to smoke in the lab or crematory room!”

Looking into Father Do’s eyes Sehun maintained eye contact as he pushed the thin roll into his mouth and chomped down. “Tootsie roll,” he said walking over to Father Do. “American sweet.” 

He handed one to the pastor as he took the envelope before setting off for home. Lu Han should be back soon and Sehun was ready to pass out on his lap while Lu Han cooed over him.

Father Do shouted after him, “Sehun you’re not allowed to have food in the crematorium either! Also wash your hands before eating!”

*

“You don’t talk about Sehun much.”

“Am I supposed to?” Lu Han looked to Zitao in wonder. It was a serious question, for his understanding there wasn’t a middle ground between “hey are you still dating that guy you never talk about him” and “please shut up about your relationship”.

Besides, it wasn’t really something that one would freely talk with other people about. What would he say? 

_“Me and Sehunnie had to retrieve this really awful corpse the other day!”_

Yixing threw an arm around Lu Han’s shoulders. “Nah it’d be so boring if all you talked about was Oh Sehun. I wouldn’t be able to forgive him if he made our Lu mundane.”

Lu Han rolled his eyes. “You’re crazy. So as I was saying, I don’t like fishy stuff but the cafeteria’s seafood pajeon is really nice.” His eyes widened. “Do you think I’ve changed? Maybe I’ll be eating grilled fish by next week.”

Zitao snorted. “I wouldn’t count on it. Remember last week when we went to the fish ball stand? You looked ready to puke your guts out.”

“Wait a moment,” Yixing cut in. “We went out for sushi that one time and you were just fine. Maybe it’s just a certain kind of fish?” Yixing frowned, that didn’t really make sense. Lu Han had eaten pretty heartily on their sushi date. Usually people who weren’t fond of fish stuck to the tamago pieces, which Lu Han didn’t.

“It wasn’t that bad?” Lu Han shrugged. “The sushi was really tasty and didn’t smell much.”

“What about yuxiang qiezi1?” Yixing asked, nudging Lu Han’s side. “Does that make you sick?”

Zitao burst out laughing while Lu Han furrowed his brows and stopped walking. “I… I don’t know I’ve never been to Sichuan. I’ve never tried it.”

Lu Han pouted when Zitao laughed even harder, a sure sign he was wrong about something…

“Wait a moment!” He readied a fist to punch them both. “They don’t actually use fish in that do they!?” Lu Han glared at his friends. “I knew that!”

Yixing recovered from his laughing fit to pat Lu Han’s shoulder. “Shhh it’s okay. You’re really smart we know.” Quickly he changed the subject before Lu Han could hit him. “Anyway it sounds like you just have an issue with how seafood smells. Usually it doesn’t smell if it’s fresh and we’re not too far from the ocean. The cafeteria’s seafood pajeon doesn’t use that much fish anyway.”

“I’ll take you to Qingdao, you’ll be a changed man afterward,” Zitao added. 

“So where are you off to now?” Yixing asked as they pulled up to the campus gate. “The flower shop? Snack street? Graveyard?”

Lu Han smiled at that last one. “No work today so I’m heading back to the graveyard. See you both later!”

Walking towards the bus stop Lu Han contemplated his options. It was an awful hot day out. Despite wandering around in a meagre outfit of shorts and a t-shirt Lu Han felt the oppressive July heat roasting him. Originally he had planned on wearing a tanktop out but then Sehun had made some glancing remark about his pale shoulders and blinding people.

And yet Sehun still carried about his usual work in that hideous brown suit. How was he not hot? 

Though being hot was probably the least of Sehun’s problems. Lu Han had seen him turning on the radiator up until mid-June. Freak. 

None the less ice cream seemed like it would be a good treat for the day. Lu Han thought about it. It took ten minutes to walk to the best ice cream stand then from there about a twenty minute bus ride back to the graveyard and…

He shook his head. No good. The ice cream would melt for sure.

Heart heavy, Lu Han walked into a near corner shop and settled for a cappuccino magnum before setting off for the graveyard.

About half an hour later when Lu Han walked into his shared home and collapsed onto the futon he had come up with a fairly solid date plan. Sehun would come home and hopefully no surprise from the police or hospital would interrupt them. Lu Han would wear a tanktop because the sun would be dimmer by then, and then they could go down to the deep fried ice cream place.

That plan went out the window as soon as Sehun really did come home as he looked near dead himself. Clad in a thick denim boilersuit and caked in black ash. Seeing him like that, Lu Han couldn’t find it in him to suggest doing anything. 

“Gonna shower,” Sehun croaked wearily.

That snapped Lu Han out of his trance. “No you relax, I’ll draw a bath.” It was the least he could do. 

“Lukewarm.”

Lu Han raised an eyebrow. Usually Sehun had his showers and baths scalding. Work must have been rough today. He went off to start the faucet.

Bathing Sehun was a pleasant enough affair. The only downside being that Lu Han realised too late that a shower probably would have been more appropriate as the water was almost black when he finished. 

“Oh! Sehunnie? I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow.”

Sehun chirred softly, pressing his face closer to Lu Han’s palm.

Lu Han stroked Sehun’s cheek. “I figured I should get those bruises checked out. Have to start somewhere.”

“Who’s the doctor?” Sehun’s voice was quiet.

“Dr Kim? Everyone seemed to have good words about him.”

Sehun hummed. “First name?" There were several Dr Kims after all not that Sehun knew any of them by anything more than their signatures. Also one of the Kims was rather detailed in his body tags. 

Lu Han thought about it. What did the appointment card say again? 

"No idea," Lu Han sighed. He wound his arms around Sehun's shoulders and rested against the nape of his neck. The water in the tub was dark and Sehun smelled like burning but Lu Han was willing to overlook all of that at the moment. Also willing to ignore the rim of the bathtub painfully digging into his ribs.

Too soon the lukewarm water adopted a slight chill. 

"Let up," Sehun said, rolling his shoulders and Lu Han yanked his arms away as if burned. "I'm going to pull the plug."

Lu Han went off to fetch a towel, the deafening croak of the draining tub water serving as his timer.

Sehun cast a dour glance to the black streaks in the tub. "Tub's going to need cleaning."

"I'll get to it," Lu Han said automatically, wrapping the towel around Sehun. He didn't pay rent, so he needed to make himself useful in other ways at least.

"Taking a bath probably wasn't a good idea after oven work," came Sehun's voice, muffled as Lu Han towelled off his face.

_Yeah I get that now_ or _Whatever_ , Lu Han considered answering. But snark never made anything better. Lu Han kept quiet.

"We'll take care of it some other time. We mostly use the shower anyway."

The rainy cloud that showed up with Lu Han's increasingly faltering mood immediately dissipated when Sehun's towel draped arms came around him. "Did you do your homework? I know you have summer homework."

"Oh not today," Lu Han whined. "Please not today?"

In most situations it was an open and shut case who had a better work ethic between Sehun and other people. With Lu Han, things got slightly muddled. One might argue that Sehun inherently worked harder than anyone else, working a full-time job with no vacations for the past eight years.

However when along came Lu Han things became more muddled, as they often did when Lu Han came along. If Sehun had to hand it to someone who worked harder than he did, he would hand it to Lu Han. Sehun had this life thrust upon him, Lu Han had to claw his way through the years.

Though who could blame Lu Han for taking the occasional break from the bootcamp routine?

"Take a break today?" Lu Han suggested before catching sight of a white envelope on the counter. “What’s that?”

Sehun looked over to where Lu Han was pointing to see the envelope sitting on the table where he left it. It wasn’t often that Sehun received unmarked envelopes, mostly it was bills or parcels. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious either, so he opened it up and took a look.

“What does it say?”

Sehun watched Lu Han rolling around on the futon and shot him a sour glance. “Why don’t you come over here to see?”

“No you bring it here,” Lu Han grumbled. “I’m so tired.”

“Did you even do anything today?” 

Lu Han sat up and puffed his chest out. “I told you! I scheduled myself a doctor’s appointment to get those weird bruises checked.”

At that moment all a manner of awful feelings wreaked their havoc on Sehun. Like someone had cracked an egg on top of his head and the yolk was slowly trickling down his spine and making him shiver. In that moment it felt as if something had been wedged betwixt his sternum and rib cage. 

He had just skimmed over the scant note in the envelope and something didn’t feel right. Sometimes Sehun had bad feelings about things. He couldn’t quite put the feelings into words. It could be a shiver along the spine, a nasty stomach ache, perhaps something even as innocuous as just a faint prickling on the nape of his neck. Sehun supposed that was the inherited sense of enhanced intuition talking.

Or maybe the heat and exhaustion were getting to him. 

“Is it a bill? I make that face when getting bills too.” Lu Han stretched out like a cat on the futon. “I like to ignore them for about five minutes before dealing with them.”

Sehun watched Lu Han rolling around. Loose scant clothes riding up, hair fluffy, and face serene as Lu Han snuggled close to the cool bedding. It was like witnessing a mattress advert in real time. Sehun couldn’t be expected to fight relaxation any longer or worry about weird letters, not after seeing that.

Throwing the towel off into the corner Sehun found himself on the futon holding onto Lu Han. Listening to the cicadas buzz and absently wondering if he would need another shower later. Late afternoon and the sun still came on strong. 

Sehun put the envelope away and closed his weary eyes, taking in the sounds and smells of mid summer... Of Lu Han. Whose chest rose and fell in a slow tempo. If Sehun focused he could smell the grass stains where Lu Han scuffed his knobbly elbows and knees on the football pitch. A faint scent of cooked egg and spices from the snack street Lu Han loved so dearly. They had gone together once. Sehun had dressed inconspicuously in a pair of comically large shades while sporting a face mask.

The whole ordeal had felt like some top secret undercover mission from one of his games.

_"I'm like James Bond," Sehun boasted in a faux baritone. Strutting around as if he wasn't dressed up like one of those example figures that stranger danger posters warned about._

_Lu Han giggled and cupped Sehun's chin. "If you're Bond then you're the Bond who dressed up as a clown."_

_Sehun stared with his mouth agape at Lu Han’s blindingly pink hair as the other flounced down the street. Never had he been more grateful that his face was covered._

That was all if Sehun focused though. However it had been a long day of frustration and arduous manual labour and as such, Sehun had no energy to spare for such musings. 

*

_“Are you really busy today? Swamped with work. Please send help.”_

After pressing send, Sehun dabbed antiseptic on the long red scratches that ran up his forearms.

There had been a… _Difficult_ funeral earlier.

“Sehun did you hear me?”

Sehun looked up at Father Do who was tending to similar scratches.

“Still thinking about what happened?” Father Do asked without looking up. “And here I thought that you’d seen it all. At least that’s all the only procession for today.”

_“I’m on the way to the doctor’s but I’m free after. Why?”_

Sehun frowned at his phone before quickly tapping out a reply and hitting send. “Distress is common among funeral goers. Some are more distressed than others.”

Fat raindrops smacked against the window panes of the funeral home, putting the home under siege. The main chamber that Sehun and Father Do were situated in groaned and echoed under the assault. Every uneasy feeling he had after reading that letter the day before returned in full force, along with this awful weather.

Heavy rains in the funeral home were a wholly unpleasant experience. It was like being stuck in a beehive or having a headache, except there was no real escape as Sehun’s own dwelling suffered from the same issue. 

“You seemed a little shocked when we had to keep Ms Ahn from climbing into the coffin.”

Another ping came from Sehun’s phone and he switched it on.

_“Haha I don’t really want to go either. It’s a gross day out and I don’t really like going to the doctor’s. I’ll be fine, it’s a safe place.”_

His frown deepened as he sent out another response pleading for Lu Han to come home. “She said she didn’t have anything without her daughter.”

Father Do’s face contorted into a tight smile. “Not many people have acclimated to death like you have. Most people get sad when someone close dies.”

As if Sehun didn’t. He shook his head. “She tried to climb into the coffin with her dead daughter.”

Father Do shrugged. “Wouldn’t you have the urge to reunite with someone who left too soon?”

Sehun’s phone pinged again.

_“That’s odd. I’ve been feeling weird all day too. I’m sure it’ll be fine though. Sehun hwaiting!”_

Putting his phone away, Sehun pondered an answer to Father Do’s question. Would he? Theoretically if someone very close to him died would he go after them? He didn’t think so. If they were dead that was it, no one knew that better than Sehun.

Nervously he tapped out another message on his phone and fired it away.

*

The doctor's office was an okay place.

More than okay actually. Lu Han saw little attempts to make the place more homey. Dark furniture to upset the impersonal white typical in clinics. Large potted flowers as well, Lu Han touched a petal to discover that they were indeed real.

If he recalled correctly, Minseok's place was the only flower shop for miles. Yet Lu Han couldn't remember any medical establishment making regular orders.

Odd.

"Nervous?"

A deep voice jolted Lu Han from his thoughts, he looked over to the smiling woman at the reception desk.

"Is it your first checkup in a while? Let me tell you a little secret." She beckoned Lu Han over and leaned in close while Lu Han power walked over to the desk.

"We put new patients with Dr Kim for a reason. Suho's a big softie, everyone loves him."

Lu Han clenched his jaw. All the more reason to resist. Who wouldn't after hearing something like that? The whole day he had been on edge. Although it was mid-summer one wouldn’t have known that looking out the window. The day before he was ready to keel over from the heat just wearing shorts and a shirt. Today he had to don a jacket.

Sehun’s frantic texts telling him to come home certainly didn’t help put him at ease either.

Just then his phone pinged, Sehun again. _“Please come home. Don’t see the doctor.”_

“Lu Han?” A man with platinum blond hair and thick spectacles came out from the back. Turning to face Lu Han his face lit up. “Oh it’s you!”

Lu Han managed a shaky smile that didn’t reach his eyes and put his phone away. The overly familiar style of address from the man was a bit… Offputting. Who was he? Lu Han swore he’d never seen this guy before.

“Hi,” Lu Han greeted, voice only slightly higher than usual.

It felt as if Lu Han was in a haze as he was led to the examination room. The doctor’s constant chatter served as background noise and Lu Han nodded dumbly when appropriate. Occasionally providing short mumbled answers to questions when necessary.

Also weird was that the doctor had straight up came out first. He was certain that usually a nurse ran a few preliminary exams before the doctor came out. Maybe things worked differently in a small town.

“Lu Han-ah?” 

All of Lu Han’s hairs stood on end upon hearing that. No one called him that, let alone talk to him with that kind of honeyed tone.

“Yes?”

“Haha no need to be so tense,” Dr Kim chided. “You said you’re a literature student right Lu Han-ah?”

Lu Han unconsciously gripped the edge of the examination table harder. “Huh? Yes that’s correct.” He couldn’t help the shivers that traversed his spine in the presence of this guy. A certain vibe hung around him that rubbed Lu Han the wrong way. Creepy paedo? No. Overly keen dad and/or uncle? Kind of.

“You like stories?” Dr Kim asked from where he was rummaging about the cupboards.

Lu Han shrugged. “Yeah.” _Obviously_

If Dr Kim heard the weak venom in Lu Han’s tone he didn’t show it. Beaming, he returned with an assortment of tools. “I like stories too. The Little Prince is my favourite, you remind me of him. Say ‘ah’.” 

Lu Han firmly avoided eye contact as his tongue was depressed.

“What kind of story do you think you’d be in Lu Han-ah?”

Trust this awkward uncle type to ask him a question while he was incapable of responding.

Scarcely after the thought crossed his mind Dr Kim quickly pulled away the tongue depressor. “Sorry about that! No splinters or anything I hope.”

Lu Han shook his head. “I…”

He had said an adventure story in the past but thinking about it. Really thinking about it, he wasn’t so sure what sort of story he'd be in.

Birth parent dead in an accident, foster family destroyed, a constant cycle of crawling back onto his feet only to get knocked down again. It sounded like something else.

“A tragedy. Probably.”


End file.
